Like many of the students in our evening classroom, Elda de leon Campos approached our program wanting to complete the GED while simultaneously working a full-time job and managing her family responsibilities. Her trepidation was obvious on her first day of class and was made explicit as she spoke to me afterward when I was closing up the building. “What if I can’t do it? I’m no good at any of this stuff. And I couldn’t do it when I was younger,” were her words. I assured her that we would keep working together as long as she attended class, regardless of how long it took. After Elda attended class for a few days, she started to become more relaxed and was feeling more hopeful. The doubts and fears had not disappeared, but their scale and power had diminished noticeably. As her sense of humor began to show and her infectious laugh was heard more regularly, she made fast friends with the other evening students, particularly Jeanette and Ricardo.
Within a handful of months, Jeanette passed her last test and completed our program. At around the same time, Elda started to encounter greater difficulties with the curriculum. Though English was not her first language, she was making consistent progress with the reading material. But, like so many students before and after her, math was giving her more trouble. Seeing her friend’s success, Elda was eager to finish soon. She was dismayed when I informed her of how much material remained before she would be ready for the tests. Some of her old doubts began to re-emerge. I showed her the progress she had already made and together we planned a general timeline for the next year. In the following months, she kept to the plan and worked hard at her studies. Eventually, she scored high enough on her TABE progress test to move from the ABE curriculum to the GED specific study material. She was thrilled and could see her end goal more clearly. Over the next six months, she and Ricardo studied for the RLA, Social Studies, and Science tests together and they passed them all. Ricardo, having completed the math test first, graduated from our program.
With just one test left, Elda was getting very impatient to graduate. She didn’t have her study partner anymore and she was beginning to realize that math would require much more work than any of the other tests. She began to criticize herself for not finishing sooner and began to think that she would never graduate. I tried to reassure her, but I was worried. It was January of 2020, right around the time of our annual graduation ceremony. Though most of the students who walk in the ceremony are GED graduates, we also give certificates to those who finished our ABE curriculum. Since this applied to Elda and she was planning to attend anyway (to see Ricardo graduate), I encouraged her to be part of the ceremony. She was hesitant at first, saying she should only participate if she finished her GED. I said that she could still walk in the next ceremony when she finishes her GED and we talked about how far she had come in the past year and a half. She agreed to join. Afterward, she said it was a great experience and it made her realize how much she wanted to get her high school equivalency. With renewed energy, she was determined to finish the math in the next year and be a GED graduate for the next ceremony.
Elda was doing well and made noticeable progress in the coming months. She passed the math practice test but unfortunately did not score high enough on the official test. Disappointed but resolute, she worked with me to make a study plan for the next few months. But within a week, the COVID pandemic closed our offices and classroom. Studying had to take a backseat to some of her more immediate work and family responsibilities. We were still able to meet virtually and it was clear that she continued to do work on her own when she was able. Some of the old lessons needed to be reviewed, but she was relearning them quickly and was starting to feel more confident again. She was more prepared than ever. She signed up to take the test at home through the new method that the GED organization was trialing, but technical issues prevented its completion. We spent a few weeks resolving the technical problems and reviewing the most difficult math questions. On the next try, all of her time, effort, and determination brought their rewards: she passed and earned her high school equivalency certification. After accomplishing her goal, Elda chose to pursue classes at Austin Community College and explore her options in higher education.
Story told by a Literacy Coalition of Central Texas Instructor
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