Columbus Tech cuts ribbon on adult education department
Columbus Technical College has conducted GED classes for two years, since taking responsibility for the local adult education program from the Muscogee County School District, but it didn't have a centralized location until Thursday.
That's when officials cut the ribbon on Columbus Tech's adult education headquarters.
A $15,000 renovation converted the bottom floor of the library building into a consolidated space for the program. Columbus Tech made room by moving economic development offices to Columbus East Industrial Park, so adult education now has a one-stop shop with classrooms, computers labs, testing areas and offices.
Testing areas remain in the other five counties Columbus Tech's adult education serves -- Harris Chattahoochee, Talbot, Stewart and Quitman -- but the program now can be run under one roof, said Cheryl Myers, Columbus Tech's executive director of community and college relations.
The program has an estimated 1,600 students, with a graduation rate of 59 percent, said April Hopson, Columbus Tech's adult education director.
Which is a huge boost, considering approximately 18 percent of Georgia's adults haven't graduated from high school, said Columbus Tech president Lorette Hoover.
"GED classes are free," she said, "and once someone earns his or her GED, that person qualifies for a $500 scholarship from the state of Georgia."
Steve Pearce, grant support coordinator for the Technical College System of Georgia, emphasized the humans behind the figures.
"We look at data all day long, but it's more than that," he said. "Every one of these numbers is somebody, a life that has been touched."
And those touched lives help improve the local economy for every resident, said Janeen Tucker, vice president of economic development for the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce.
"Columbus Technical College is such a great partner for this region and for the Chamber," she said. "Having adult education at Columbus Tech is a perfect fit. From an economic development standpoint, the only way our region will grow is with an educated workforce, and that's exactly what Columbus Technical College provides."
Columbus Tech has found new ways to provide adult education, Myers noted, with hybrid scheduling (online classes, plus one or two classroom sessions), computer programs and smartphone apps to complete assignments.
Mark Rice, 706-576-6272. Follow him on Twitter@MarkRiceLE.
LEARN MORE
To enroll in the adult education program at Columbus Technical College, or for more information, call 706-641-5620 or visit columbustech.edu.
This story was originally published August 20, 2015 at 5:36 PM with the headline "Columbus Tech cuts ribbon on adult education department ."