HOULTON, Maine — The motto for the Houlton Hodgdon Adult and Community Education program is “Learning today for a better tomorrow,” but in all reality it should be “the door is always open.”
Over the years, hundreds of students have walked into adult education, located at the Houlton Higher Education Center, to seek out assistance in completing high school, find a training program, get help to go back to college, or find a class to take.
“Last year was an amazing year as we graduated a record 35 students,” said stated Joe Fagnant, director of HHACE. “We know we have more students in our files that started and never finished. There are new students in our community that could utilize our services. We do keep the door open to have anyone walk in to start their pathway towards completing high school, or assisting to start college”.
Adult education provides a variety of services. The major programming is to help individuals finish high school, either through the adult education diploma, or the equivalency diploma process which was formerly called the GED.
“In 2014 the state of Maine switched from the GED to the HiSET (High School Equivalency Test). The test is similar in scope where you have to pass five tests including reading, writing, math, science and social studies,” Fagnant said. “Many people still call it the GED, but you are really taking the HiSET to get your state of Maine high school equivalency diploma. Either pathway is available for our students, and they make their choice based on their comfort level with high stakes testing, how many credits they may have earned while in high school, or preparedness level in the pretesting process.”
“Our students come with a variety of questions, and also a variety of backgrounds,” said Ken Ervin, assistant director. “We meet with them on an individual basis to set up their own learning plan. In fact we run our classroom as an individualized open learning center. Each student is working on his or her own materials with the guidance of teachers. That’s a relief to many of our students that experience anxiety or did not fit with the traditional classroom setting. We make it as comfortable as possible”.
To walk into a school setting again after not being in a classroom for a year, 10 years, or even 20 years or more can be intimidating. “There is always a welcoming feeling with our partners at the Houlton Higher Education Center to help students enter the building and find our offices,” added Patti Sloat, administrative assistant. “They then start some basic information papers to find out more about them before they meet with Joe”.
“We get a number of students that may want to finish high school or even start college and do not know how to get started, “ Ervin said. “All it takes is for a potential student to walk in, we can do the rest. But they have to want to be here. We have many students that are one and done candidates. They need to take one more HiSET test or do one more credit to actually graduate. Sadly, many start, but find it a challenge to walk back in.”
The HiSET testing process adopted in 2014 does keep track of the completed tests. A student can come back in at a later time to finish their tests if all five tests are not yet completed.
“Just call us and we can let you know what your options are and we can search our files for your finished transcript, or look to see if we have access to your prior student information,” Sloat said.
HHACE keeps all the graduation records for students that finished in RSU 29 or SAD 70 adult education since 1965.
“We get calls from all over the country from former students seeking transcripts to apply for a job or enter college,” Sloat said. “We also have employment agencies contacting us to verify a student graduated. It’s amazing how many students graduated through adult education.”
According to prior records, from 1965 to June of 2019, a total of 2,561 students graduated with their adult education diploma by finishing credits, or testing through GED or HiSET. Currently, HHACE tracks the number of graduates by fiscal year from June to July.
The 2018-2019 school year had 35 graduates, including a balanced representation of both diploma and HiSET completions. Those grads were Raveena Angotti, Kaylee Ariza, Catelyn Baker, Jonas Bowman, Katherine Burridge, Karen Carmichael, Richard Churchill, Johathan Devoe, Denis Dube III, Lindsay Gardner, Brandon Green, Lea Henderson, Travis Merritt, Branden Nason, Starr Newell, Samantha Norfleet, Beau Pelletier, Caleb Phillips, Seth Rand, Michael Robinson, Joshua Ryan, Josh Shields, Dakota Smith, Joseph Simms, Sheena Stoddard, Alyssa Stubbs, Sarah Sturtevant, Travis Styles, Shelby Suitter, Conway Thornton, James Toby, Eric Totten, Dalton Trahan, Anthony Watson, and Donald Watson.
