Event encourages students to complete the GED | Eastern North Carolina Now

Press Release:

    Latoya Waters spent the last three months completing her General Education Development. She wanted to finish her studies because of pending changes in the program that would have required her to start over in her studies if she had not finished this year.

    "I didn't want all that time that I had put into it to be wasted," she said.
LaToya Waters, standing in from of the BCCC Registrar Office, completed her GED and has begun Human Services Technology studies at the college (Contributed photo/Beaufort County Community College).


    Waters said completing her GED has given her a feeling of accomplishment and, once she finishes her studies in Human Services Technology at Beaufort County Community College, she hopes to have a better advantage in the job market.

    Penelope Radcliffe, Basic Skills Assessment and Retention Specialist, wants to encourage others to do the same thing as Waters - finish their GEDs before the program changes take effect next year.

    To that end, Radcliffe has planned a GED Assessment Day, from 8:45 a.m. to 1 p.m., Wednesday, Aug. 21, in Building 8 on the BCCC campus to give those students who have started, but not completed, their GEDs the chance to see where they stand.

    Members of BCCC's Basic Skills staff will be on hand to advise participants about their remaining high school equivalency coursework.

    The event will also be a good time for those who have not yet started their GEDs to take the assessment to see if they, too, can earn their GEDs before the program changes take effect, Radcliffe said.

    In addition to a brief assessment, the event will include lunch and door prizes donated by Frank's Pizza, Pizza Inn, Subway, Domino's Pizza, NautiLife, Cottage Junkies, Coke, Literacy Volunteers of Beaufort County, Advanced Auto, State Employees Credit Union, FirstSouth Bank, JobLink Career Center, U.S. Cellular and Farm Bureau Insurance-Belhaven.

    BCCC's GED Assessment Day is prompted by statewide changes in every aspect of the high school equivalency program - from the courses that are offered to the fees students pay for GED tests - that take effect in January 2014.

    As a result of these changes, students who have passed some, but not all of the tests will have to start over after the end of the year because scores taken on tests before Dec. 31, 2013 will not be counted under the new program.

    Also next year, the cost of the high school equivalency tests will increase about $100 over the current fee.

    For more information about the event, contact Radcliffe at (252) 940-6325 or by email at peneloper@beaufortccc.edu. Information about upcoming changes in the GED is also available at www.beaufortccc.edu/coned/ged.htm.


    Beaufort County Community College is a public comprehensive community college committed to accessible and affordable quality education, effective teaching, relevant training, and lifelong learning opportunities for the people served by the College.