The different faces of adult education

Frederic Leyd, like many adults, needed a General Education Development credential to attend college. But that’s about the only thing Leyd had in common with Shatoya Harper, Donald Barnard and other GED students in the Adult Education program at Pellissippi State.

Before earning the GED, Frederic Leyd was a circus performer.

He traveled all over Europe and the Mediterranean with different troupes, performing acrobatic feats. His list of circus credentials includes performances with the renowned Circus Roncalli in Germany and the National Basketball Association games in the U.S., as well as shows in Switzerland, Kuwait, Norway, England, Holland, France and Israel.

Besides performing acrobatics in his act, Leyd also played the guitar and sang. Beyond that, he holds a black belt in shingitai jujitsu and is a personal trainer.

But physical feats weren’t enough for him. He wanted to attend college, and having dropped out of high school in France at age 16 with only a certificate, he needed a GED.

Leyd enrolled in his first GED classes at the College in July 2005. By September, he had earned the GED credential. Now, he plans to continue on here starting this fall, pursuing math and science.

Shatoya Harper arrived in Knoxville from Biloxi, Mississippi, on September 15—less than a month after Hurricane Katrina destroyed her home and everything in it.

Harper had been attending GED classes in Biloxi, but after the storm, she says, the school was “under water.”

According to Harper, she completed the 10th grade, then dropped out. Her sister attended Pellissippi State and is now finishing her four-year degree at the University of Tennessee. It was her sister who brought Harper to the Adult Education program Pellissippi State.

Harper says she wanted to earn her GED credential because she had difficulty finding a good job in Tennessee without it. She studied hard and was ready to take the test in about a month, said her Adult Education instructor, Tamela Wheeler.

With the GED behind her, Harper says she plans to stay in Knoxville and start college at Pellissippi State.

Donald Barnard, who turned 75 this past year, attended public schools through the 10th grade, then dropped out to attend the Henry Ford Trade School in Michigan. He left before finishing the program and joined the Navy.

Over the years, he worked in various positions—machinery, printing press manufacture and installation, and eventually his own business repairing presses—learning the skills he needed through “on-the-job training.”

Barnard’s wife was the one who saw an advertisement for Adult Education at Pellissippi State in the News-Sentinel and said, “Why don’t you try it?” He decided pursuing his GED would be a good challenge and agreed to try.

The work of preparing started on September 14, 2005. Barnard passed his GED test three months later, on December 12.

Barnard says completing the GED was challenging and gratifying—it was a chance to improve himself and feel more confident. The material was interesting, he says, and he gained a great deal of knowledge from the process.

Now, when he goes into stores where there is a sale that uses a percentage as savings, he can easily calculate the cost of an item. And, he says, finishing high school also has a broader benefit: “Companies now demand more education.”

Besides that, he said, “There is nothing better than a good education!”

"Inside Pellissippi" is a bi-monthly electronic publication produced by the Community Relations Office for the faculty and staff of Pellissippi State Technical Community College, 10915 Hardin Valley Road, P.O. Box 22990, Knoxville, Tennessee 37933-0990. All suggestions and comments should be sent to Julia Wood (jwood@pstcc.edu).

For past issues, visit the Inside Pellissippi Archive.