LearningQuest student climbs personal Everest

This student will be called Allison, although it is not her real name, but everything else about her story is true. She is married and 35 years old with two children but no high school diploma.

Allison is not a typical “drop-out student” who attends LearningQuest’s High School Equivalency preparation program to pass the test for a diploma. Hers was a story of neglect – unintentional, but neglect nonetheless. Her parents, in their concern about her older sister who was being bullied in school, took Allison and her sister out of public school and began homeschooling instead when Allison was in fifth grade.

From what Allison can remember of those years, however, very little schooling happened. Her older sister continued to have crises in her life, and her parents focused on helping her. Unfortunately, Allison was left to raise and educate herself – at least that was how it felt to her, she said.

By the time she reached her senior year and met with a counselor about her readiness to graduate, it was soon apparent her credits were lacking and her best hope was the California Equivalency Exam. She said she knew as soon as she looked at the exam that she could not pass it. She didn’t and her parents never asked, so she never told them until recently that she did not get a diploma.

When her husband had to be off work for medical reasons, the family thought they would need some help from welfare. It ended up they didn’t, but it was the way Allison found out about LearningQuest and how this nonprofit could help her get her diploma. She took an assessment to find out what her skill level was and she found out her climb would be challenging. In fact, she calls it her Mount Everest.

Because of her lack of schooling, Allison’s math skills were very basic – multiplication and division and only a basic understanding of fractions and decimals – similar to fourth-grade math. She would need to not only master basic math, but learn geometry and algebra as well. Science was also intimidating because she had never had science lessons.

Allison’s assessment qualified her to get tutoring from a volunteer through the library-based tutoring program and volunteer Denise Nordell became her teacher.

“She worked with me a lot on writing and grammar,” Allison said. “We focused on history as well. After a couple of months, I was able to begin online classes,” she said. “My one saving grace was I loved to read and had read a lot.”

Allison explained why she waited so long to work on getting her diploma. “I had the fear of ‘Can I do it? Am I smart enough?’ that was just overwhelming. Since the kids were finally old enough, I took the leap. This organization gave me the tools, the guide, the tent and all the equipment I needed to successfully make this journey to the top of Everest,” she said.

She also credits her children and husband, who support her long hours of studying.

Allison is actually in her final ascent. She has passed all the tests and only missed passing math by one or two questions. She was hoping to have it done by Christmas but has a plan to finish her studies over the next month.

Her instructor, Mike Skaria, is confident she’ll make it to the top soon. “It is amazing how far she has come already in her math skills, so this little bit more won’t be that difficult. I know she can do it.”

Allison said when she does complete her diploma, she wants to help encourage other students like herself. “I want them to know it’s worth the time, the agony, the stress to get it done because once it’s done, it’s done, and I’m looking forward to being able to say I’m a graduate.”

This story was originally published December 23, 2015 at 4:14 PM with the headline "LearningQuest student climbs personal Everest."