POTTSTOWN >> For many, a high school diploma means the end of four years of hard work and the first step toward a bright future. Yet for those receiving a GED diploma, it means the first step toward a fresh start in life.
With the 61 students who graduated Wednesday from the GED program at Montgomery County Community College West Campus, the school has now graduated more than 1,000 students since its inception in May 2006.
MCCC operates the GED program with financial support with MontcoWorks, Montgomery County’s Workforce Investment Board. The program is free to Montgomery County residents, and classes are held at MCCC’s West Campus in Pottstown.
When the project first launched a decade ago, the college had expectations of between five to 10 graduates tops, said Ronnie Cohen, manager of the workforce investment board and Montgomery County Community College collaborative projects.
“I know our first class had close to 60,” she said. “So it has progressed over the years from just a dream that everyone shared on bringing a GED program to Montgomery County that would be accelerated, in a beautiful environment and successful. And we’ve met that challenge every year.”
The GED program is a six week accelerated program covering four subject areas of the GED exam: reading and language arts, science, social studies and math. Students take one week of a subject then they test. Then the following week they take another subject, then they test. For those individuals that come into the class with learning challenges, there is a bridge program that allows them to brush up on subjects so they can get into the program and actually succeed.
Cohen has watched over a thousand faces from the GED program cross the stage to accept their diploma and it still fills her with pride each year, she said.
“It’s just amazing,” she said. “It’s really a dream come true. Over the years I’ve been to every single graduation. I was one of the individuals who was here the first day of classes. What can I say? I’m extremely proud of Montgomery County Community College and especially the support of the Workforce Investment Board. Without them it would be tough for us to have a program as successful as it is.”
For the students themselves who’ve passed through the GED program, it’s been a second chance at life.
Tim Ream, who was this year’s GED graduate speaker, said he dropped out of high school two weeks into senior year, after having changed schools five times in five years before he was even a freshman. He he made mistakes in life afterward and blamed others for his problems, he said. Yet since he enrolled into the program at MCCC, his life has started to turn around.
“So in the last nine months, I’ve accomplished more in life than I have in nine years,” he said. Currently taking summer classes at the college with a 3.50 grade point average, Ream is on the right track.
“I know it’s not a 4.0, but it’s better than the 0.6 I left high school with,” he said choking up. “I enjoy going to class, I don’t push my family away anymore … I’m a much happier person.”
