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Lives transformed through education

ABLE program helps students on many paths

Linda Downer works with students, from left, Rick Bitel, 50, Bill Isaacs Jr., 39, and Daryl King, 53, Thursday, May 13, at Workforce One in Fairfield.

Staff photo by Nick Daggy Linda Downer works with students, from left, Rick Bitel, 50, Bill Isaacs Jr., 39, and Daryl King, 53, Thursday, May 13, at Workforce One in Fairfield.

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By Richard O Jones, Staff Writer 11:17 PM Saturday, May 22, 2010

HAMILTON — Three women sit side-by-side in a dimly lit hallway lined on one side with a bank of computers.

They’re at different stages in their life, different stages in their education, but they come here several times a week with one thing in common: To better their lives and take their education to the next level.

The school is located in a small office complex at 633 High St. in Hamilton, one of three locations of Hamilton City ABLE — Adult Basic and Literacy Education — operated for free by the Hamilton City School District.

This is the go-to place for people who never finished high school and want to pursue a General Education Development diploma, or anyone who needs to sharpen their academic skills to further their education.

Gloria Bruce already had a 30-year career in cosmetology when she began attending ABLE classes in 2008, first to get her GED, now to brush up on her study skills. She plans to take entrance exams to Butler Tech, where she wants to work in the health care field for the elderly.

Rebecca DeGroat just started coming here a couple of months ago after her 16 year-old-son found out she didn’t have a high school diploma. She dropped out and started a family when she was 16 herself. She didn’t realize how rusty her study and test-taking skills were, so she’s just beginning her pursuit of a GED and thinks it may be a few months before she’s ready to take the nearly eight-hour exam.

Christina Matthews was supposed to graduate from New Miami High School in 2008, but couldn’t keep herself out of trouble. She’s less than a week away from taking the test and expects it to be a grueling, two-day ordeal.

“Everyone who comes in here has their own story,” said Tawna Eubanks, teacher at the High Street location. “Usually the goals are similar. They want to better themselves in some way, through their job or their family. People who come here like a smaller atmosphere. I have several who come here after working midnights.”

The Hamilton City ABLE program serves around 720 to 750 people a year, Eubanks said, and on Thursday, June 3, about 100 of them who received their GED in the last year will be on hand for a GED Graduation and Recognition Ceremony at the Wilks Conference Center at the Miami University Hamilton campus.

Adult students develop skills to succeed

Although the Hamilton City ABLE program is best known as the place to go to get your GED, that’s only part of the story.

“Most jobs today require post-secondary education,” said Kathy Petrak, coordinator of the ABLE program. “So our focus now is more on getting people ready for that.”

Paula Chantana graduated from Hamilton High School in 1987, but has been coming to the ABLE location at WorkForce One in the Fairfield Crossings Shopping Center for over a year now to sharpen her study skills as she started working toward a degree in speech therapy at Miami University Hamilton.

“It taught me how to write better, helped me with my math work,” she said of the ABLE classes and self-study programs. “When I started coming here, I was reading at a ninth-grade level, but doing math at the fifth-grade level. You forget how to do things like simple fractions. This class boosted me on all my material.”

She recently finished her first semester at MUH, and continues to come to ABLE during her summer break for the support she’s offered there.

“I enjoy coming here,” she said. “The older you get you know what your responsibilities are, and it’s very laid back. Everybody gets along with everybody.”

Toni Khounesombat has likewise been going to the WorkForce One ABLE site for over a year, first to get her General Education Development diploma, then to help her sharpen her study skills as she continues her business education at Mount Vernon Nazarene University.

“Because of my family obligations to my cultural heritage,” said Khounesombat, whose family is from Southeast Asia, “I had to leave Lakota East and find an alternative way of finishing high school. I took an online diploma and enrolled at Brown Mackie College for business.”

When she decided to change schools and apply for financial aid, however, she discovered that her online diploma wasn’t accredited with some funding agencies, so she turned to ABLE to get her GED, which she completed in August.

“Whatever option I had, I had to do it quickly, and this met my criteria,” she said. “I wanted a classroom I could sit in to help me with my business skills as well as my college education.”

“We have both drop-in and formal classes,” said Nancy Schwab, who teaches at the WorkForce One location with Linda Downer. “They come in when they can and on Wednesdays we have a reading class and a math class. We give them opportunities in the morning to come in and work on their own.

“People come in here pretty motivated and it’s rewarding for us because we see people who really want to improve their lives and we get to watch them do that.”

The third ABLE location at Miami University Hamilton is structured the same, taught by Sharon Katterheinrich and Nancy Simmons, but with a little more emphasis on helping students ease into college through a program called Transitions.

They also focus on helping international students with their English skills, and a world map in the classroom highlights their countries of origin.

“We get to learn about other countries in the process, so it becomes a fuller, rounder education,” Simmons said. “We learn, for instance, that they don’t do division in some countries the way we do.”

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2188 or rjones@coxohio.com.

Services offered by Hamilton City Adult Basic and Literacy Education

Basic skills update, available for all adults to improve reading, writing and math skills. Teachers help students prepare for exams such as Para Pro, Work Keys and COMPASS.

GED test preparation, for students who want to obtain a GED diploma.

Work ready/career ready work keys certification, to help adults get better jobs or enter training programs to learn new skills .

English for speakers of other languages, to help people speak and read English.

Free college transition classes, held at Miami University Hamilton to help students prepare for college.

ABLE programs

New student orientation is held at WorkForce One, 4631 Dixie Highway, Fairfield. For information, call (513) 894-0301.

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