(Butler, PA) Marcella Rogers was “mortified” on that February day when she began classes to prepare for tests to earn a commonwealth secondary school diploma.
“I was embarrassed to be in that position,” the 56-year-old Middlesex Township mother of three said. “I was afraid I was not going to succeed.”
During her senior year of high school, Rogers and her family moved from Dix Hills, N.Y., to Scottsdale, Ariz.
“I didn’t go back to school. It was late in the school year,” Rogers said. “We were under the impression that I had fulfilled my high school graduation requirements, that I would be getting a diploma in the mail.
“And that obviously wasn’t the case. It never happened.”
“You have to have a high school diploma”
A dropout is a student who, for any reason other than death, leaves school before graduation without transferring to another school or institution, according to the state Department of Education.
Rogers, her husband and children moved in 2015 to Butler County, closer to relatives and where she found employment with an accounting firm. Three years ago she was hospitalized with COVID-19, and still suffers from its effects.
“I couldn’t work,” she said. “I had severe respiratory and cognitive setbacks. Everyone has to be a two-income family these days. I had a kid in college. I could not figure out any kind of work to do. So I knew I had to go back to school. But to go to college you have to have a high school diploma.”
Rogers began high school equivalency classes in February with Butler County Community College’s Adult Literacy program to prepare for tests to earn a commonwealth secondary school diploma.
“The individual attention,” Rogers said, “was phenomenal. The teachers are able to personalize their training to your needs. They’d show me the areas that I needed to work on. They found training material to give to me. They literally helped me through it, side-by-side.”
“We give them the confidence that they can achieve this. Our instructors are their biggest cheerleaders, and they help the students to be able to look beyond just getting their diploma ...”
Rogers in April passed her fourth of four tests needed to earn a commonwealth secondary school diploma from the state Department of Education.
“We give them the confidence that they can achieve this,” said Barb Gade, grant director of BC3’s Adult Literacy program. “Our instructors are their biggest cheerleaders, and they help the students to be able to look beyond just getting their diploma, to what they are going to do afterward. Many of our students have enrolled at BC3.”
Fourteen students who had achieved commonwealth secondary school diplomas earned associate degrees or credit certificates in BC3’s Class of 2023, according to Becky Smith, the college’s director of records and registration.
Within days of passing her fourth test needed to achieve a commonwealth secondary school diploma, Rogers enrolled at BC3.
“Everybody has a story. Everybody has a reason for being there (in BC3’s adult literacy program classes). And just seeing these people take that first step, come into the classroom, that’s huge. It’s really huge.”
66 dropped out of county schools in 2021-2022
She completed 12 credits this summer and said she has a 3.5 grade-point average. She is pursuing 15 credits this fall as a general studies student with the intention of applying to enter the college’s selective-admissions registered nursing program in 2024.
“I’m extremely confident now,” Rogers said. “I feel like I have been reborn through this process.”
Sixty-six students dropped out of Butler County’s seven public school districts during the 2021-2022 academic year, according to the most recent information available from the state Department of Education.
Reasons include having academic or behavioral problems, needing child care or disliking school, exceeding maximum school age or seeking employment, according to the state Department of Education.
“Everybody has a story,” Rogers said. “Everybody has a reason for being there (in BC3’s adult literacy program classes). And just seeing these people take that first step, come into the classroom, that’s huge. It’s really huge.”
BC3 has helped 550 earn diplomas since 2009
Rogers was among the 25 Butler County students who achieved a commonwealth secondary school diploma through BC3’s Adult Literacy program between July 1, 2022 and June 30, according to Gade.
Approximately 550 students have earned commonwealth secondary school diplomas through BC3’s program in the past 14 years, Gade said.
Nearly 3,400 students obtained a commonwealth secondary school diploma through high school equivalency testing between July 1, 2022 and June 30, according to Whitney Newhouse, with the state Department of Education’s division of adult education.
Beginning in mid-September, BC3’s Adult Literacy program will offer high school equivalency classes at four locations and five English as a second language classes at two.
High school equivalency classes begin Sept. 11 at BC3 @ Cranberry in Cranberry Township; and Sept. 12 on BC3’s main campus in Butler Township; at Pennsylvania CareerLink Butler County, Butler; and at First United Methodist Church Ministry Center, Butler.
Beginner, intermediate, advanced and multi-level English as a second language classes begin Sept. 11 on the college’s main campus and at BC3 @ Cranberry.
“There are people in the program who couldn’t or wouldn’t be able to afford it, so it’s a big deal that it is free.”
Sixty-six students are registered to take BC3’s high school equivalency classes, and a record 68 to take its English as a second language classes.
Among the native languages of students registered for fall 2023 are Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish and Ukrainian, Gade said.
All classes are free as a result of state Department of Education funding, Gade said.
BC3’s adult literacy program has also benefited from five Luncheons for Literacy organized by the Butler Rotary Club PM. The most recent event in April raised a record $20,000. Funds help to cover the $7 cost of each of four General Educational Development Ready Test exams in language arts-reading and writing; mathematical reasoning, science; and social studies — and the $36 cost of each official subject area test.
“I was extremely grateful the program was free, because of the state funding and local supporters,” Rogers said. “Had I had to pay for this, I never would have taken the chance on myself. I never would have made that investment because I really did not think that I was going to be able to succeed.
“There are people in the program who couldn’t or wouldn’t be able to afford it, so it’s a big deal that it is free.”
Diploma adds $171 to weekly earnings
Median weekly earnings in 2022 for those without a high school diploma were $682, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. Weekly earnings for those with a diploma were $853 and with an associate degree, $1,005.
“Their earning potential,” Gade said, “goes up exponentially.”
The BC3 Education Foundation offers eight named scholarships specifically designated to BC3 students who have earned a commonwealth secondary school diploma, according to Bobbi Jo Cornetti, development coordinator for the BC3 Education Foundation. Amounts range from $400 to $1,000, Cornetti said.
BC3’s Adult Literacy program also offers free courses in computers, financial literacy and essential skills.
For more information, visit bc3.edu/adult-literacy.
