Adult Education Classes offered

January 16, 2012

The importance and opportunity of education is priceless, it is never too late to gain as much as possible and Guymon Public School’s Adult Education classes are a great place to do just that.
Adult Education Director, Mike Parkhurst announced the second semester of GED, ELL and HEP program classes are up and running for 2012 and invites anyone interested to take park in these free classes.
“Around 50 students pass the GED exam each year, earning a high school equivalent degree and use it to strengthen their job performance and for promotions,” Parkhurst said. “Many students use their GED to enroll in post high school programs and to enroll in college.”
The GED classes are held on Mon., Tues., Wed., and Thurs. evenings, fro 5-7 p.m. and students are welcome to come to any, all or only one of the weekly classes. GED testing is done one per month and although the classes are free, the GED testing fee is $75 and students must pay and register two weeks prior to the test.
“On average, someone with a high school diploma or GED will earn over $900,000 more income during their working g lifetime than someone without a high school diploma or GED,” Parkhurst said.
In addition to the GED program, the Adult Education Program offers area residents English Language Learners (ELL) and Migrant Adult Education (HEP). According to Parkhurst, approximately 120 adults utilize the three programs every year in Guymon.
“The ELL classes is for individuals wishing to learn english and the HEP program classes is for individuals wishing to take the GED test in Spanish and who qualify as a migrant worker,” Parkhurst said.
The ELL classes are held each Tuesday and Thursday with three available class times - 9-11 a.m., 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. and 5-7 p.m. The HEP program classes are also held every Tuesday and Thursday, however the class times available are 8:15 - 11:15 a.m., and 5-8 p.m.
Classes for all GED, ELL and HEP classes are held at the Academy North Building, located at 712 N. Academy Street.
“Adult Education has a long tradition in Guymon. I’ve been in Guymon for 18 years and certainly Adult Education was well established before I came,” Parkhurst said. “Brian Lee, Jerel Brooks, Randy Williams and Joy Hinchey are some of the past directors that helped make our Adult Education program what it is today and we’ve had many wonderful teachers giving of their time to hemp students achieve success.”
Parkhurst reported the teachers working with the adult learners now, Jana Bledsoe, Casey Hall, Amy Fronterhouse and Dora Vasquesz, are very good with the adults and the classes are equipped with SmartBoards or Promethean Boards.
“These are interactive white boards that permit the teachers to touch and drag information and to use color in their presentations, as opposed to just chalk on a blackboard,” Parkhurst said. “It is a positive way to present lessons and gives our teachers pitons they did not have prior to their use. Whatever you can see on your laptop or pc screen can be projected to the much larger wall board.”
For more information on any of the classes, contact Mike Parkhurst at 580-338-4340.