Three Aspire students weren’t the only ones learning something on Nov. 2 during the inaugural grant-funded adult literacy class at Ohio University’s Gladys W. and David H. Patton College of Education’s Stevens Literacy Center.
“As I saw you doing your lessons, if you had the time, I’d ask you to stay by and teach me because I realize there’s a lot I have forgotten,” said Renée A. Middleton, dean of The Patton College, to the adult students.
It seems the other dignitaries and guests in the room agreed, as Middleton’s comment was met with quite a bit of laughter. After all, the lesson, taught by Scott Hatfield and Sally Young from the Athens County Department of Job and Family Services, OhioMeansJobs – Athens County, was about fractions.
In all seriousness, Middleton had a bit more to say to the students, Shasta Glover, Staci George and Charla Gretz.
“You said three words that I think are two words for all of us to remember, and that is, ‘I’m still trying,’ and that’s so important,” Middleton said.
“Don’t give up,” she added. “It is our privilege to work with our partners and to have our Aspire teachers and to see everybody in this room. It takes all of us to uplift Southeast Ohio.”
Those gathered in the Literacy Center were there to observe the Ohio Department of Higher Education-sponsored program, Aspire. It provides free services for individuals who need assistance acquiring skills to be successful in post-secondary education, training and employment. Ohioans 18 and older with less than a 12thgrade education are eligible to participate.
But they were also there to celebrate. The Stevens Literacy Center has received an adult literacy grant from Aspire, making Ohio University the first four-year institution in the state to receive such funding.
ODHE Chancellor John Carey called OHIO the first “GED to Ph.D. program,” and told the crowd on Nov. 2 that the program hits close to home for him. His mother went back to school to get her GED to be successful in her career.
“That’s been one of my passions as chancellor of the Ohio Department of Higher Education, is giving people opportunities that they don’t normally have,” Carey added. “That’s what Ohio University did for me. … Without the opportunity, the education that I received here, I would not have been able to do anything that I have been able to do in my professional career.”
Carey told the students he was proud of them and said he looks forward to hearing about their success. That sentiment was echoed by Ohio University President M. Duane Nellis.
“It’s an Aspire grant — and we’re so proud to be the first four-year school to receive that grant as we try to expand this program — but I’m inspired of what occurred today, watching you,” Dr. Nellis said. “Thank you for making this commitment; this is what we’re all about. We want to transform lives through education.”
Education does transform lives, and Charla Gretz, one of the Aspire students, is a perfect example of that. She passed her GED test on the first try and her scores were so high that she was deemed college-ready in two subjects. Gretz will be enrolled at Hocking College in January and will be studying to train service dogs.
Her children, one who has autism and epilepsy, and another who has frontal lobe epilepsy as well as other disorders, have service dogs.
“I’ve worked with animals all my life, and I thought, how can I combine these two things (education and animals) and create a career,” Gretz said. “When Hocking started up this program, I said, ‘This is it, this is my ticket to do what I want to do and help people all at the same time.”
To end the event, Julie Barnhart Francis, Stevens Literacy Center director, read to the group a quote from actress Amy Poehler.
“It’s very hard to have ideas, it’s very hard to put yourself out there and it’s very hard to be vulnerable, but those people who do are the dreamers, the thinkers and the creators,” she read. “They are the magic people of the world — as you are today. Aspire. Rise high.”
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Aspire services are available in all 88 counties in Ohio and offer programming in math, reading, writing, life skills, employability skills, computer literacy, and English for speakers of other languages, among other areas.
It is not uncommon for Aspire students to receive their high school equivalence diploma and pursue post-secondary education. In fact, some are Ohio University students. Other Aspire students receive their diploma and immediately enter the workforce.
Other Aspire and Literacy Center stakeholders include Athens County Job and Family Services and OhioMeansJobs Work Station, Tri-County Career Center Hocking County OhioMeansJobs Center, Workforce Development Board #14 and Athens County Libraries.
To find out more about Aspire, visit https://www.ohiohighered.org/aspire.