HomeMy WebLinkAboutLearning In North Huron, 1992-10-07, Page 3OCTOBER 1992. PAGE 3.
Conestoga offers wide variety
It's never too late
It’s never too late to get your Ontario Secondary School
diploma. Just ask Mary Houghton who returned to school
at age 43 to get her Grade 12 and says it was the smartest
thing she ever did.
Adult Education helps
woman reach goals
For many people, schooling
doesn't end when they've earned
their diploma and landed a job.
Many need more schooling to
upgrade a professional skill, or take
classes to satisfy a general interest.
That's why continuing education
programs, such as ones offered by
Conestoga College, are becoming
so popular.
More than 30,000 students regis
ter in the college's part-time cours
es and programs every year.
Some of these courses are offered
locally in Wingham and Brussels.
Each season, the college offers a
variety of courses at F.E. Madill
EDUCATION DIRECTORY -
ADULT SELF
IMPROVEMENT
Public Speaking, Maitland
Motivators, Brussels, 8 weeks,
Frank Proctor, 887-9481.
Region 3 Workshop, Huron
Genealogical Society, April,
Alison Lobb, 482-7167.
Adult Secondary School
Education, F. E. Madill
Secondary School, Paul Elgie,
Night School Principal, 357-
1800.
Meetings, Historical Society,
fall meeting - Sept. 17,
Dungannon Hall, annual dinner -
Oct. 29, Brucefield United
Church, Margaret McClure, 228-
6219.
Ontario Basic Skills (Math
and English), Wingham Literacy
Program, Wingham, Hilda Grant,
357-1072.
Secondary School based on
demand.
Conestoga College and the
Huron County Board of Education
are partners in adult education in
Huron County, says Vicki Russell,
who's with the college’s Communi
cations and Public Relations
department.
"Conestoga and the Huron Coun
ty board have combined resources
for the delivery of part-time pro
gramming and are working together
Continued on page 4
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R.R. 1 Listowel N4W 3G8
Hwy. 86 West of Listowel
By Lisa Boonstoppel-Pot
When Mary Houghton of Wing-
ham was 15 years old, she decided
getting a job was more important
than staying in school.
Thirty years later, she went back
to school and says it was the
smartest thing she ever did.
"People my age think they can't
possibly go back to school," she
says, "but there is no limit to what
you can do if you have the desire."
That desire formed in Ms
Houghton several years ago. After
she quit school as a teenager, all
she could get were manual labour
jobs at restaurants and factories.
In 1970, she got a break and was
hired as the Assistant Supervisor of
Housekeeping and Laundry at
Wingham District Hospital.
"I thought many a time about
going back to school but having a
full-time job and raising a family
kept me busy. I only had my nights
free," she remembers.
Then she heard through a friend
about the adult education being
offered at night at the local high
school, F.E. Madill.
She and a few friends went to an
information meeting to see how it
worked and how long it would take
to earn a diploma.
"All of us were assessed and
awarded credits for life skills," she
says. "I found out I only had to
have four senior credits to get my
diploma."
That's when Ms Houghton decid
ed to go back, seeing it as an excel
lent opportunity to improve her
chances of reaching her goal— to
become the Director of Housekeep
ing and Laundry at the hospital.
Once a week, she went to class
and studied accounting, English,
personal life management and
math.
The math she found difficult but
she asked for extra help and ended
up getting good marks.
Getting back into a school rou
tine was also a bit difficult but with
support, she adjusted.
"You have to put a lot of yourself
into it. You lose a lot of your social
life," she admits.
But above all, she found studying
highly enjoyable.
"I especially found the Personal
Life Management course very
interesting. It got me involved with
the town."
For the course, she had to inter
view people and do projects on
senior citizens. "'The projects really
made me aware of what the elderly
go through and made me look at
them in a different perspective,"
she says.
Two years later, she graduated
earning not only a diploma, but a
confidence she never had before.
"I feel more confident in my job
and more aware of my own abili
ties," she reveals. "Graduation
night was a special night because I
felt like I really accomplished
something."
Having a Grade 12 has also
helped her with courses she takes
through the hospital such as the
Housekeeping Supervisors Course
she recently completed.
To anyone who is see-sawing on
whether to go back to school, Ms
Houghton has this advice.
"It's to your advantage no matter
what you do in life. If you have
your Grade 12, you can go on from
there but just having Grade 10 is
nothing," she says.
Paul Elgie, the principal of night
school at Wingham, says students
enter the program for many rea
sons.
"They want it to upgrade them
selves, to go on to further education
or to get better employment," he
says. While earning it, they also
gain self-respect, more knowledge
and more confidence, he adds.
One thing he usually finds is the
adult students, after years of being
away from school, work harder and
get higher marks than they did
before.
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