Adult Learners Offer Lesson to Younger Students

On Monday, November 8, 2010, a group of 10 adult students from OCM BOCES GED, Adult Literacy and other adult education programs, addressed students from the North Syracuse Central School District. 2010 is the third year that adult learners from OCM BOCES have gone to North Syracuse Junior High School to talk with middle and junior high students about the importance of staying in school and getting an education. The NSJH Student Assistance Program and Counseling Department hosted the hour-long panel discussion, in cooperation with OCM BOCES’ Division of Adult Education.

The student panelists from OCM BOCES shared their very personal stories of having dropped out of school at young ages and openly discussed how their decisions negatively impacted their lives. Each panelist, whose ages ranged from 19 to over 50, eventually came to realize that in order to survive and thrive, they would need to obtain an education and each one came to OCM BOCES to do so. The panelists talked about hardships in their lives such as teen pregnancy, drug and alcohol use and abuse, reliance on government supports, the death of friends and family and imprisonment. The goal of the panel discussion was for the younger students to hear firsthand about how the decision to leave school causes hardship.

Pictured: Forty-one year old Reginald Ferguson of Mattydale talks to a group of students at North Syracuse Junior High School on Monday, November 8, 2010. Reginald was one of a panel of ten adult students from OCM BOCES adult education programs to address the younger group regarding the experiences of dropping out of school and the struggles of trying to return later in life. Reginald provided a forthright account of his hardships resulting from having dropped out of school, including the death of one of his daughters. Reginald’s advice to the younger students included “take[ing] the time today to do what you have to do to have a better tomorrow.”