As summer draws to a close and the kids return to school — continue your own learning by enrolling in Greenbrier County’s Adult Education Program.
“It’s vitally important, especially in our area,” said instructor Ginger Reliford. “It’s really, really hard to get a job. You want people to have as much education at they can so they can get a lasting career.”
The center has been at 718 Nicolas Street in Rupert for 23 years and instructor Reliford says a lot of people don’t know it’s there.
“A lot of my students are here for their high school equivalencies, of course,” she said. “But we also have people coming for job skills like resume writing.”
James Boggs enrolled in the Adult Education Program to learn to read better, get into college, and licensed to have his own business.
“She does a wonderful job and I’ve learned a lot,” said Boggs.
You can do customer service practice, work on Microsoft and recently they got access to CSM.
“A math course that you could actually once you pass it you can get college credit,” Reliford said.
When it comes to the students, Ginger says she gets all kinds.
“My youngest ones are 17 because that’s the dropout age here in West Virginia,” said Reliford. “But I actually had an 80-year-old man years ago, who had dropped out during Pearl Harbor and wanted to get his… back when it was called a GED.”
And their success has been impressive.
“I’ve had people that went to college, we’ve had several people that got nursing degrees. Lots of people move into jobs readily. It’s a good program,” Reliford said.
Ginger’s years of dedication to giving back and helping others is personal… she dropped out of school at 16 and got her GED and then went on to college.
“College opened all the doors for me. You can get a job, even without a high school equivalency but if you want one that makes good money,” she said. ” You need a trade or you need to go to college. That’s what I try really hard to impress upon people.”
For James, his new chapter started after joining God’s Way Recovery Program, and is now 15 months sober. He has long-term aspirations.
“Hopefully having a house and a good job,” Boggs said. “Just be life different and… I’m happy. I can’t wait to see where life takes me.”
The Center is hosting an Open house September 1, 2023 from 8:30 – 2:30pm.
And they are open Monday -Thursday… and every first and third Friday, 8am – 2pm.
For more information, call 304-392-6209.
