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The Citizen, 1987-06-03, Page 5THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, 1987. PAGE 5. CHSSprogram for mature students pro vides A second chance and county students are grabbing it Judi Weber [left] and Lynda Lentz [right] co-ordinators of a special program at Central Huron Secondary School in Clinton for academic upgrading, look over the work of one of their star students Laura Hogg of Exeter. Fifteen people from across the county take part in the program. BYKEITHROULSTON “People make you feel less intelligent because you don’t have a diploma. It’s nice to make them eat their words,’’ says Bonnie who’s getting marks in the 90’s in a new education program for adults at Central Huron Secondary School in Clinton. The program, conducted through co-operation of the Cana­ da Employment Centre, Cones­ toga College and the Huron County Board of Education, is designed to help adults who have been out of school, upgrade their education to pursue post-secondary education or learn job skills that will give them a better chance of getting a good-paying job. More than just technical skills, however, one of the biggest bonuses of the program for most of the 15 students in the first-ever class seems to be a boost in self-confidence. Students have been out of school for varying lengths of time. Pat, fOr instance, hadn’t been in a class­ room for 29 years. Her first day, she recalls, she couldn’t stop shaking inside. Now, she says, “I’m surprised I’m still learning as much as I am, surprised the old brain is working. I’m proud of myself up to now but I’ve got a long way to go.’’ The kind of personal growth that her students have shown in the first 10 weeks of the program makes it “just very, very satisfying to be part of it, ’ ’ says Lynda Lentz of Blyth, one of three teachers in the program. She and Judi Weber of Seaforth took on the duties of organizing the project and she teaches a life skills course that aims to improve the communications skills and self­ image of the students. The life skills class, Judi says, is developing skills the students will need when they go back into a work setting: how to deal with others in a social setting. The reward is almost as good for the teachers. “I’ve learned almost as much from them as they’ve learned from us,” Judi says. John Gillespie, Manager of the Employment Centre in Goderich explainsthatthe program came about because of a need for somewhere in the county to provide academic upgrading dur­ ing the daytime after Conestoga College was unable to continue the program at its Vanastra Campus. His office started talking to officials from the Huron County Board of Education but a major hurdle had to be overcome: the federal government can’t deal directly with a board of education. The solution came when the Employment centre was able to contract the work to Conestoga College and the college was able to contract the work from the Huron board. The process took more than two years to set up from Mr. Gillespie’s first memo on the subject in the summer of 1984 to the final start-up on March 23, 1987. The course is designed to do two things: upgrade the academic qualifications of the student to the Grade 12 Ontario Secondary Schools Diploma and to provide employment preparation skills to help people find employment if they didn’t go on to post secondary schooling or to help them find jobs to finance their schooling. The first 15 “seats” in the program were financed by the Employment Centre. Those at­ tending through the Centre have their tuition paid and receive unemployment insurance benefits if they are eligible for them or an allowance if they aren’t. In addi- tionsomemayreceivehelp with travel and other costs of attending the program. That isn ’t the only way to get into the program however, Lynda Lentz points out. For people who don’t need the financial assistance of Employment Centre funding there is no reason that they can’t come in under the regular school regula­ tions for independent students, she says. Many people find it easier to study in groups than to take correspondence courses, she says. The observation is borne out by comments from the students. “I couldn ’t sit down at a table and do it (the work) by myself, ’ ’ says Laura. The group provides encourage­ ment, she says and there is immediate access to a teacher, not like a correspondence course where if you run into a problem it may take considerable time before the problem can be solved. For Ron, who wants to get his Grade 12 diploma by this fall so he can study to be a policeman, the benefit is getting more courses quickly. In a correspondence course, he say$, you can only take one credit at a time. In this course you can study three or four subjects at a time. For the teachers, the project began when CHSS principal Joe Wooden approached Lynda Lentz and Judi Weber in late September last year to see if they would be interested in organizing the pro­ gram. In October the two visited other schools with adult education programs to see how the programs worked. They then formulated a proposal that was submitted to the Employment Centre. The final response came in March and March 23 the program was in operation. The teachers sat down for personal interviews with each of the initial 15 course participants to see what their career goals were and determine the limit of their previous education. Where the student had completed one or more grades of high school, a transcript of their marks was obtained. They started each of the course participants initially one grade above the last level they had completed in school, whether they left school five or 30 years ago, then monitored “the frustration level” to see if they could cope with that level and worked to help if not. Under the perogatives of a school principal, up to 12 credits of the 27 credits necessary for a grade 12 diploma can be given for equiva­ lent experience outside the school system. For instance, Pat, who had been out of school for 29 years after not having completed grade 9, received 12 credits while another student who dropped out in grade 11 received six credits to take her up to her maximum allowable credits under the system of 23. She’ll have to earn the last four credits in the program. Judi Weber says the teachers have tried to get each student working on the extra credits that will most help in a post secondary school or job situation. For that reason one of the credits nearly all students are taking is computers, learning word processing and other skills to be able to compete in a modern workplace. The computers, plus a change in the profile of the typical student brought an early change in the program. The Employment Centre had projected that most students taking the program would have dropped out in grade nine or 10 so Lynda and Judi thought they would be able to teach all the subjects needed between them. Actually most students had dropped out in grade 11 or 12 and Judi didn’t feel she had the advanced mathemati­ cal skills to teach that level. Enter, quickly, Sheila Mullin of Seaforth who teaches math and computers. Most of the students are taking four credits: English, Math, Com­ puters and Life Skills. The students are a diversified lot in their ambitions. One woman wants enough education to qualify for a licence to drive a bulldozer. Another entered the course think­ ing about becoming a Registered Nursing Assistant but now is thinking about becoming a full- fledged nurse. One woman came into the course with only grade nine but has been so successful that she’s now contemplating going all the way through university. “One thing we picked up as a common denominator,” says Lyn­ da Lentz, “is that you have to address the problem of a lack of self-confidence.” Some of the lack has been addressed by the stu­ dents themselves, through the closenessthathasdeveloped in the group and the encouragement they give each other, she says. Judi says the willingness to share each others success (the whole class celebrated when one got 100 on a math test) is one of the differences Marg Medd of Blyth gets help on the computer from instructor Sheila Mullin of Seaforth. Computers are one of the job skills courses most of the students in the course are undertaking. between teaching in this environ­ ment and an ordinary environ­ ment. Another difference is the will­ ingness to work. “We didn’t anticipate they would be taking work home,” says Judi, since the group contained people who have busy lives at home such as a single mother and a grandmother but they have, and they’ve been swamping the teachers with work to be marked. Tohelpthe students measure their growth and to help building communications skills each writes a journal at the end of each week reflecting their feelings for the week: not just in school work but in their personal lives. For the most part, Lynda Lentz says, they are very honest in the journals and it gives the staff a good insight into how the students are feeling at this particular stage. CHSS’s principal Joe Wooden has given the program two class­ rooms in the old wing of the school, one of which is used for classes and the other, with furniture supplied by a student, has been turned into a lounge. Lynda says the program just couldn't have worked without the co-operation of Mr. Wooden and Vice-Principal Rob Parr. Funding for the course has been approved until April 1. 1988 says John Gillespie, at which time the success of the program will be reviewed but so far he considers it a highly successful program. No student has dropped out and there have been no complaints about the program. The ultimate success of the program will be measured in how many students obtain their goals, he says. If the reaction of the stuaents is considered, the program already seemstobeasuccess. “Ididn’t expect the course to be like this." says Marg. “I’m very impressed."