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BERTIE LEDGER-ADVANCE MAY 17,20171 C5 The fabric of Bertie County since 1832 Academia MCC holds 41st GED graduation WILLIAMSTON - Martin Community College (MCC) celebrated its 41st GED® graduation on May 9, in a ceremo ny held for a near-ca pacity audience in the MCC Auditorium. Family, friends, staff and faculty were on hand to cheer on the graduates and con gratulate them on their achievement. MCC’s GED® program is ad ministered through the Basic Skills department in the Division of Con tinuing Education. The graduates who chose to participate in the ceremony were; Emiline Baker, Rhon- isha Best, Jamal Brown, Tabitha Cardinal, Jo seph Chavez, Anthony Ford, Jordan Haislip, Jessica Hoggard, Bran don Martinez, Charles McEachern, Kelli Wil liams and Jonathan Williamson. Not all of the 53 GED® graduates from MCC were able to attend the ceremony. Many of ) the graduates have ob tained jobs or moved away since their suc cessful completion of the program. Twenty eight of the GED® grad uates completed their course work and tests at the Bertie Correc tional Institution (BCl) in Windsor. This year, the cere mony was different. Rather than listening to the comments of a traditional commence ment speaker, the au dience was treated to testimonials from six of the actual students and a past graduate of the program. Jordan Haislip, An thony Ford, Jamal Brown, Brandon Mar tinez, Charles McEach- ern and Emiline Baker were the students who spoke. They thanked family members for their love and support as well as the staff and faculty of MCC. Baker summed up the student comments by saying, “It took me '■V ' Pictured above are the 12 students who participated in MCC’s annuai GED® graduation ceremony on May 9 in the MCC auditorium. Receiving their GED® dipioma (back row, from right) are Brandon Martinez, Anthony Ford, Joseph Chavez, Jonathan Wiiiiamson, Charies McEachern and Jamal Brown and from left to right on the front row are Kelli Williams, Rhon- isha Best, Jordan Haislip, Jessica Hoggard, Emiline Baker and Tabitha Cardinal, a long time to find my self-worth, but 1 did it. The word ‘can’t’ isn’t in my vocabulary any more!’’ The final testimonial was given by Clinton Jackson, who gradu ated from the program 10 years ago. He noted that after he earned his GED®, he returned to MCC, earned a Medical Assisting degree and went to work in a doc tor’s office and later, in a nursing home. This fall, Jackson is prepar ing to start the surgery assistant program in Edgecombe County. He stated, “MCC is a great school. 1 never thought that I would be working in a doctor’s office while 1 was in the GED® program.” Charlotte Griffin, President of the MCC Foundation board, then announced the recipients of the Foun dation scholarships for GED® graduates. Jamal Brown, Jordan Haislip and Jessica Hoggard were each awarded a $500 scholarship. These scholarships were awarded based on essays written by the candidates and will assist them with their tuition and books as they become college students this fall. The Foundation also pro vided each of the other graduates with free tu ition for two curricu lum classes in the up coming academic year. Brown, a lifelong resident of Williamston noted in his essay, “1 give Mr. Joe (Phipps) most of the credit (for this accomplishment). He really pushed me and told me many times that 1 was too smart to waste my in telligence....He pushed me every day and re minded me to never lose hope or give up. Now, 1 want to return to MCC because 1 feel like Martin is a great school with awesome teachers who make it their goal to see their students succeed.” Brown is planning to enter the Automotive Systems Technology (AST) program this fall and someday, open his own repair shop. Oak City resident Haislip, stated, “1 want my daughter Madisyn (now 2 months old) to see that no matter what life throws at you, as long as you believe in yourself and perform to your full potential, nothing is impossible. 1 want to inspire her to do great things and not go through the strug gles and hardships in life that 1 have encoun tered.” Haislip plans to enter MCC’s Dental Assisting Program this fall and eventually becoming a pediatric dentist. Hoggard, who lives in Colerain, wrote, “Now that 1 have finished this wonderful, amaz ing program, 1 want to begin college. 1 want to make something of my self, for my son and my bo54riend so that we can build a life together and be a family. 1 plan to stay at Martin be cause the staff is won derful and very helpful and the programs are outstanding.” Hoggard will take gen eral education classes at MCC this fall and eventually enter the Business Administra tion program so she will have the skills to man age her boyfriend’s au tomotive shop, which he plans to open after graduating from MCC’s AST program. The GED® was born of the US Military in 1942, when they asked the American Coun cil on Education to develop a battery of tests to measure high school-level academic skills. These tests gave military personnel and veterans who had en rolled in the military before completing high school a way to demon strate their knowledge. Passing these tests gave returning soldiers and sailors the aca demic credentials they needed to get civilian jobs and gain access to post-secondary educa tion or training. Over time the GED® has undergone major changes. In 1988, the test added essay writ ing and placed more emphasis on socially relevant topics and problem-solving skills. In 2002, the test was re-formatted to comply with more recent stan dards for high-school education. Most recent ly, in January of 2014, the GED® was moved to Pearson VUE, a pro prietary computer- based testing platform. The current GED® test covers the following areas; Language Arts, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies. According to Jeri Griffin, the Basic Skills Director at MCC, “The recent changes to the GED® have made it un attainable for many stu dents. The GED® test ing fee has increased from $35.00 to $80.00 ($20 per discipline), plus there is now an ad ditional $24.00 practice test fee ($6 per each discipline) which was previously free. Today, it costs $104 to take the entire battery 'of tests. Most of our stu dents do not have the money to take the test. Thank goodness for oc casional donors, and the College sanctioned Yard Sale we held last October. The yard sale raised enough money to cover this year’s student test fees. How ever, these funds are depleting fast. 1 hope that more angels step forward to help our students. As witnessed at our graduation cer emony here tonight, a gift as small as $100 can change a life.” MCC offers GED® classes in Williamston, Windsor and Rober- sonville. For more in formation on the GED® program at MCC, call 252-789-0288 or email Jeri Griffin at jeri.grif- fin@martincc. edu. To make a tax deduct ible donation for schol arships or GED® test fees, contact Robert Bonner at 252-789-0295 or robert.bonner@mar- tincc.edu. ■ Super Crossword - Answers o H M O PUBLIC NOTICE The Town of Lewiston Woodville has changed its regular monthly meeting time from the first Monday of the month at 7:30PM to the first Monday of the month at 6:00PM. PUBLIC HEARING The Town of Lewiston Woodville will hold a public hearing on the proposed budget for fiscal year 2017-18 on June 5,2017 at 5:30PM in the Town Hall. The budget is available for inspection at the Town Hall. Notice of Public Hearing NORTHEASTERN NO REGIONAL HAZARD MITIGATION PLAN The Town of Lewiston Woodville will conduct a public hearing on June 5,2017 at 5:45 PM at the Town Hall to discuss the Northeastern NO Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan. Following the public hearing, the Council will consider adoption of the plan. A copy of the plan is available for public review at the following web address: http://www. rapregionalhmp. org/participate. html. TOWN OF ROXOBEL NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING ON THE NORTHEASTERN NC REGIONAL HAZARD MITIGATION PLAN Notice is hereby given that the Town of Roxobel Board of Commissioners wiil conduct a public hearing on June 13, 2017, at 6:45 p.m., at the Town Hall, to discuss the Northeastern NC Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan. Following the public hearing, the Board will consider adoption of the plan. All citizens are encouraged to attend. A copy of the plan is available for public review at the following web address; http://www.rapregionalhmp.org/participate.html. The public is encouraged to review the draft plan. For questions and/or additional information, please contact Manuel Joyner, Sr. at 252-3442781. Bertie Ledger-Advance Subscribe Today! Call 252-794-3185
Bertie Ledger-Advance (Windsor, N.C.)
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