1. education
2. graduate school
3. college

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 In our Nation—40 Million adults lack a high school diploma and the skills needed to
make it in today’s job market.
 Nearly 4 million jobs in America are unfilled today simply because there aren’t
enough skilled workers to fill them.
 By 2018 sixty-three percent of jobs will require employees to have an education beyond the high school level.
 Adults with a high school diploma or equivalent (GED®) earn approximately
$568,000 more in a lifetime than someone who does not have a diploma or GED®
MOUNT ROGERS
MRRAEP NEWS
AP RI L
REGIONAL
ADULT
EDUCATION
PROGRAM
Source: www.gedtestingservice.com
201 5
Congratulations Graduates!
PluggedInVA, Welding Graduates
Pictured from left to right
David Justin Clay, Roy Steven Cook, Justin Anthony Walls, Thomas Matthew Mabry, Scott E.P
Zagorski, Wesley Brian Boggs, and Hubert Anthony Pierce
Serving the
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OR
Call: 888-906-4031
Digital transcripts: $15
Paper transcripts: $15 + shipping
CONTACT MRRAEP AT
www.mrraep.org
or
call 1-800-322-7748
following localities:
Bland County
Carroll County
Grayson County
For upcoming events, schedule changes, and items of
interest, follow us on Facebook.
Smyth County
Washington County
Wythe County
MRRAEP
P. O. Box 828
Abingdon, VA 24212
City of Bristol
City of Galax
MRRAEP OFFICE
STAFF
Shirley Carlson
Program Manager
Joanne Groseclose
Program Specialist
Brenda Otey
Office Manager
Melissa Vannoy
Data Specialist
Published
by
Melissa
Vannoy
The second PluggedInVA Welding Cohort,
sponsored by Mt. Rogers Regional Adult Education, completed a six-month contextualized
program on February 12, 2015. Classes were
conducted at the Washington County Skill Center in Abingdon, Virginia, where students focused on instruction in GED® preparation, digital literacy, Career Readiness Certification, professional soft skills and a minimum of 120
hours in welding.
As their capstone project, the class chose to
build a jungle gym and donate it to Faith Missionary Baptist Church, Marion, Virginia. Pictured above is the jungle gym prior to transporting it to the church. The proud students designed and welded the playground equipment,
integrating knowledge and skills to showcase
their work. The class presented the jungle gym
to Pastor Mark Lundy at the PluggedInVA reception in February.
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PluggedInVA—Welding
The PluggedInVA (PIVA) program, an innovative program to help
adults advance toward a career, was
just the ticket for Scott Mumpower of
Bristol.
Although he was a dedicated student who attended classes in three
different locations, his work schedule
interfered with his GED® preparation studies. Then, two of his teachers, Lorraine Heath and Tom Heath
at Heath’s GED® Center and the
Bristol Virginia Employment Commission, recommended him for the
PIVA program where he could qualify to have intensive instruction to
prepare for the GED® exam, the
Career Readiness Certificate, and a
Digital Literacy Certificate, in addition to welding instruction.
Enduring a demanding schedule for
several months, Scott maintained employment while meeting the requirements to complete the PIVA welding
program. He earned his GED® Certificate October 25, 2013.
Scott says, “The reason I wanted to
earn my GED® certificate was because every morning, I looked in the
mirror and thought, ‘I don’t have my
high school diploma—how am I going to better myself without it?’”
Teacher Debbie Roark comments ,
“Scott Mumpower is a dedicated,
hardworking man. He worked a fulltime day job, and then he came to
PIVA class and studied for three
more hours. He was always conscientious about his classwork. Even when
presented with challenges that life
GALAX
GALAX—
—ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE (ESL)
Pictured from left to right, Tom Kessee
Digital Literacy Instructor and
Scott Mumpower.
threw his way, he kept a smile on his
face and met them head-on.” Scott is
now seeking a welding job in the area
while maintaining his job as an auto
mechanic.
The English as a Second Language class in Galax is absolutely
rocking!
Teachers, Elizabeth
Stringer and Candice Iroler, currently have 33 students actively
enrolled in their class that meets
on Tuesdays and Thursdays from
5pm to 8pm at Galax High
School. The average class attendance is around 20 students per
class. Attendance drops off during the winter months when most
of the Hispanic students begin to
work in Christmas tree fields, but
now that spring is just around the
corner, the class is starting to see
nightly attendance back to 23-25
students! This makes for a fast-
paced, fun-filled night of learning!
Many of the students are interested in not only learning English,
but also passing the GED® test.
The test is given in Spanish, but
there are no current GED® classes
taught in Spanish.
Elizabeth and Candice spend
part of the class time reviewing
math concepts and preparing students for the math portion of the
GED® test. The rest of the class
is spent on learning English. Topics cover anything from going to
the grocery store, participating in
a job interview, and how to register a child for school. The stu-
dents really enjoy learning when
the lessons are relevant to their
daily lives.
Elizabeth has been teaching this
class for over ten years. Even
though the faces and names in the
class have changed over the
years, the attitude and motivation
of the students remains the same.
Elizabeth says, “It is so refreshing
to be able to walk into a classroom full of eager, motivated, and
thoughtful students who are ready
to use their knowledge the second
they walk out of the classroom.
There is no job more rewarding.”
Submitted by E. Stringer
Submitted by S. Hutchinson
MRRAEP WELCOMES NEW STAFF
Candace Iroler serves as an ESL instructor in Galax. She received a bache- Tom Kessee is the Office Technology instructor at the Adult Skill Center and
lor’s degree from Emory & Henry College in English and Spanish and a master’s works with PluggedInVA. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from ETSU.
degree from Regent University in Education.
Alan Wyatt is the welding instructor at the Adult Skill Center and works with
Shannon Mutter serves as an adult education instructor and works with women PluggedInVA. He has a professional license to teach from the Commonwealth of VA
in the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in and is certified through the American Welding Society.
Education from King College.
.
Ed Conley works as an adult education instructor at the Southwest Virginia HighGary Collins works as an adult education instructor in Bland County. He holds a er Ed Center and the Bristol VA Sheriff’s Office. He holds a Master of Arts degree
Master of Science degree from Radford University in School Administration with a from Morehead State University.
Certificate in Special Education and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Emory & Henry
College in Health and Physical Education.
John Britton works as an adult education instructor at Old Chilhowie High
School. He has a Master of Arts from Radford.
Angela Lawson serves as a career coach and instructor at the Wytheville
Virginia Employment Commission. She holds a Master of Science degree in Career Joanne Groseclose serves as Program Specialist and works as an adult
and Technical Education from Virginia Tech, a Bachelor of Science in Vocational/ education instructor in Smyth County. She holds a Master of Science degree in
Industrial Education from Virginia State University, and ED.S. in Administration and Learning Disabilities and a Bachelor of Science in Intellectual Disabilities and Upper
Supervision from the University of Virginia.
Elementary Ed, Grades 4-7 from Radford University.
Jimmy Marcum serves as a career coach. He holds a master’s degree in Ad- Melissa Vannoy serves as Data Specialist. She holds an Associate of
ministration and Supervision from Virginia Tech and a bachelor’s degree in Elemen- Applied Science degree in Administration from Virginia Highlands Community
tary Education from UVA-Wise.
College.
Charles Brumfield serves the areas of Wythe and Galax as a math tutor and Krystal Landeros serves as an ESL instructor at the Southwest Virginia Higher
holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Radford University.
3
Ed Center. She holds a Master of Science in Early Education, NK-4; English as a
Second Language, Pre-K-12; and Middle Education, Grades 4-8 from Shenandoah
University.
“If I could pass that GED®
test, I believe I can do anything.”
Howie Hawkins
Quotes from GED® Graduates
“Passing the GED® test has
opened doors for me. I plan to
enroll at WCC in the fall.”
Austin Dunavant
GED® STATS
Virginia Stats
GED® accounts
Test Takers
Completers
Passers
3,499
1,241
357
259
State pass rate
National pass rate
MRRAEP pass rate
73%
61%
100%