Recently, Southern Regional Technical College (SRTC) announced their 2020 Exceptional Adult Georgian in Literacy Education (EAGLE) delegate, Mrs. Angela Chouinard of Thomasville. 
The EAGLE Program celebrates adult learners in pursuit of excellence. This state-wide program recognizes and honors students who have demonstrated exceptional achievement in statewide adult education classes. Adult Education instructors in public, private, and grantee agencies nominate students at the local program level to participate in the EAGLE recognition program at the state level. Selection criteria include student character, attitude, attendance, leadership and community involvement and activities.
Every EAGLE delegate is considered an ambassador and spokesperson for literacy, serving local communities and the state by promoting lifelong learning. In the spring of 2020, Angela Chouinard will represent SRTC’s Adult Education program at the state EAGLE Leadership Institute in Atlanta.
Before deciding to earn her GED, a teenage decision to drop out of high school had defined much Chouinard’s adult life. “In the back of my mind, I would always hear that voice reminding me that I was inadequate because I was a high school dropout, and that I would never have a good job,” she commented. It was a tearful afternoon of trying to help her child with a homework problem that finally propelled her to begin taking GED prep courses at SRTC. “The day that I enrolled in the GED classes, I was very afraid of testing. I was even afraid of going to class. I held on to that negative feeling of inadequacy. However, when I entered my first night class, instructor Penny Redmond met me with a smile and welcomed me with open arms. She worked with me night after night building my confidence.”
Angela Chouinard earned her GED on September 19, 2019. She immediately applied and was accepted into SRTC’s Business Management program. She plans to use her business education to one day open a small business with her husband. She says that her GED successes have changed the way she thinks about herself and her future. “The SRTC Graduation Ceremony in December was one of the best days of my life. All those inadequate feelings are now gone and are replaced with feelings of success and achievement. I know that I will be successful in my Business classes because I am going to continue exactly what I did to be so successful in the GED classes: work hard, remain determined, hold my head high, and never give up.”
SRTC designed their Adult Education program for those individuals who need assistance with basic academic skills. Flexible programs with non-traditional classroom hours are offered so that the program can meet the needs of almost anyone’s schedule. Program services include instruction in basic skills, literacy, GED preparation and testing, and the English Language Acquisition program. The services are free and available at various locations in Colquitt, Decatur, Early, Grady, Miller, Mitchell, Seminole, Thomas, Tift, Turner, and Worth counties. For more information, visit SRTC’s Adult Education program online: https://southernregional.edu/adult-education-ged