During a summery outdoor ceremony on Thursday, Nancy Sliger said everyone faces obstacles to graduation. For Robert Collier that was transportation, and his path to graduation took 3,804,240 steps — a number MERS/Goodwill Excel Center staff calculated based on his 4.8-mile route to and from class every day.
Staff sometimes gave him a lift at night or in poor weather, but most of the time Collier traveled on his own motivation.
“Just having my life be different than it has been” is what kept him going, he said. “I just wanted a change.”
Sliger, who is the Excel Center director, presented Collier with a new pair of shoes while his classmates and other attendees cheered.
“I don’t know if I would’ve had the determination to do it, but we applaud you, Robert,” Sliger said.
This graduation was the seventh held at Poplar Bluff’s Excel Center, which provides free classes and childcare for adults of all ages and backgrounds seeking their GEDs.
Collier heard about the Excel Center from his parole officer.
“So I decided to check it out and then just never left,” he explained.
Getting his GED has opened up new avenues for Collier, and he plans to go back to school for a culinary arts degree. To him, graduation was more than the finish line of a long walk.
“It’s everything,” he said. “I never thought I’d get to do it.”
__Kassie Freeman__
Other graduates were also motivated by the prospect of a better future.
Kassie Freeman wanted more opportunities not only for herself but her husband and their baby daughter. Freeman had a rough elementary school experience prior to years of on-and-off homeschooling, and believed she is one of the only students to arrive at the Excel Center with no high school credits. The most challenging thing about her time at the center was walking through the doors on the first day.
“You’re scared people are going to judge you ... but they (have) open arms,” she said. “... (The) best thing is the teachers, hands down. They’re the best. They’re like your friends.”
They also stood with her through major life changes good and bad.
“I got married while here, got pregnant while here, had pregnancy complications while here. The school is amazing. They helped me through it all,” she said.
Her next life steps will be to enroll at Three Rivers College to become a licensed registered nurse. She said to her, graduation represented “struggle, tears, a lot of work.”
“I can’t put into words what it means ... it’s a lot,” she said.
__Michael Roberts__
Aspiring hotel manager Michael Roberts came to Excel after online GED classes proved unhelpful for him.
“The best thing is first, how much I got to know everybody, and how this seems like a big family to me,” he said.
The center was recommended to him by an aunt, who cheered him on during all his classes. His teachers and fellow students were also great support, and Roberts found the experience to be much different than his time at high school.
“I was always one that was behind and nobody really liked talking to me,” he recalled. Going in, he assumed was just bad at school, but through the welcoming environment, he discovered otherwise.
“Then I found out that I was really good at it, and then everybody looked toward me for help,” he said.
Graduation still felt “unreal” to Roberts as he prepared to accept his diploma, but he already knew what he would do next. His GED will help Roberts meet the requirements to become general manager at the hotel where he works.
“I’m actually over halfway there already — I got a promotion a couple months ago, and now I’m only two steps away from being a general manager,” he said.
__Dewayne Avery__
Dewayne Avery had tried to earn his GED a few times. but decided to go all or nothing after he was injured on the job in construction. He missed work, he said, and bills piled up.
“Moving up in the industry, you have to have some kind of certificate or diploma ... to get any kind of job that’s worth having,” Avery explained.
His girlfriend encouraged him to give a GED another shot, and Avery decided this was the time to “get that step up.”
One of the biggest challenges was his work schedule. It slowed his studies down, he noted, and meant he had to stick to night classes. The friends he made at the Excel Center made it worth it, though.
“Meeting a lot of people, you get social skills, you learn different things,” he said. “And it’s a welcoming environment, so you got a place to relax and get rid of some stress.”
Avery said his graduation was the start of a different future than the one he had before. He is applying to TRC to earn his welding certification.
“It means another chance at a better life. Really, I get to move forward out of a hole. It’s like a whole new beginning,” he said.
In all, 11 students attended Thursday’s graduation ceremony. They were Collier, Freeman, Roberts, Avery, Josh England, Abby Fitzgerald, Charles Grayse, Kathy Mayberry, Hailey Blair, Chrysler Martin and Elisha Stonesifer.