LearningQuest helps adults find and stay on path of education

If you think of education as a pathway that begins at birth, then you can visualize people walking the path – some stopping to rest, others wandering off for a while and coming back, some finding alternative trails and others just sitting on a bench and being passed by. LearningQuest is an agency serving those who have stopped or wandered off the path, and it is our mission to help them find the trail again and have the stamina, resources and confidence to keep going.

This path of life-long learning is necessary to reach the goal of a living-wage job for a family and hope for a better tomorrow.

One of those who wandered off the path is a man named Antonio. He dropped out of school in 10th grade and was incarcerated for many years. He was a recovering drug addict, jobless and homeless when he came to Modesto. Then he began to make the changes he needed to make and went from living on the streets to a garage to his own one-bedroom house. He went from being unemployed to recycling to a part-time janitorial work.

But he realized he would get no further if he did not get his education, and he came to LearningQuest to begin the preparations he would need to pass his GED test. He is now just one test away from his diploma and plans to enroll at Modesto Junior College and become the first in his family to attend college. He is traveling the road again and now has a map to guide him.

A woman named Isela sat on the bench for a while. She left school while attending middle school. Her parents moved her many times as a child, and she got so far behind she could not catch up. She realized, though, she would not get a good job without a diploma, so she decided to enroll in a GED program at LearningQuest after getting married and having children.

Isela did not know how to divide when she began the program and had to be able to do both algebra and geometry to pass the test. She graduated after studying for over a year and now has a job at Amazon. She is also extremely involved in her children’s education and making sure they succeed. She is not only on the path, but she is guiding others in her family.

LearningQuest has three program areas that encourage adults to return to the educational path.

One is literacy. For adults who never learned to read well enough, this path is crucial. Volunteers worked with almost 200 adults this year on improving their ability to read using written curriculum as well as multisensory systems. Success in this path leads often to a GED program or college. Learning to speak, read and write English is necessary to further education or career as well. It is like traveling over a steep hill to a different path of English education. There were almost 300 adults who took classes and improved their English. Preparation for the GED test is another program serving over 800 adults and helping them increase their knowledge of math, science, social studies and language arts.

These adults then are able to enroll in a community college, vocational program or get a job. Most need this help because they wandered off the path in their teen years primarily because of teen pregnancy, drugs and drinking, or other family issues.

Inside today’s Modesto Bee is a supplement with more stories of success from adults who found the trail again and the rewards this has brought. You will be inspired by what people can accomplish with caring teachers and volunteers helping them travel down the path of education.

This story was originally published September 8, 2015 at 1:55 PM with the headline "LearningQuest helps adults find and stay on path of education."