GED Prep

Seashore Family Literacy offers GED Prep Sessions — for free!

Adults 18 and older are invited to attend classes held every Wednesday from 10am to noon, at the Waldport Community Learning Center, located on Hwy 34 & Bay St. 

In addition, one-on-one GED tutors are available Monday - Friday from 10am to noon.

To schedule individual Prep Sessions, or to take part in the weekly Wednesday classes, call Seashore Family Literacy, 541-563-7323. 

 Seashore celebrates its first GED graduates, and the volunteers who helped make it possible. From left: Vicki Meneses, Senitila McKinley, Angie Ferkens (graduate), Cynthia McFadden, Grace Wiesner, Kristi Linton-Whiteman (graduate), Judy Parmentor. Kneeling: Heather Eldred (graduate), Ashley Norlin (graduate).

Seashore celebrates its first GED graduates

Heather and her children lived in a motel. 

Ashley quit high school months shy of graduation. 

Angie wanted to accomplish just one thing before turning 40.

Tales of transformation marked a small but powerful gathering as Seashore Family Literacy celebrated its first GED graduates: Catherine Donovan, Heather Eldred, Angie Ferkens, Anthony Hill, Kristi Linton-Whiteman and Ashley Norlin. 

“This is the first goal I accomplished in my life,” said Angie Ferkens, her smile wide. “My goal was to get my GED before I turned 40, and I did!”  This fall, she plans to attend community college, with her eye on a graphic design career.

Seashore Family Literacy created the GED Prep Program last fall. Volunteers (primarily retired teachers and professionals) serve as tutors to help prepare adult students to take the five-part exam to earn a GED (General Educational Development) certificate. Students must succeed in five test areas — writing, reading, math, social studies and science — measuring knowledge and skills acquired during a traditional high school education. 

Overcoming obstacles
In just eight months, six students earned their GED, an impressive number according to Vickie Meneses, an adult education specialist who works as a liaison between Seashore and Oregon Coast Community College. “This is awesome! To have so many graduates in such a short time,” she said. 

“I dropped out of school when I was 15, and pregnant,“ explained Heather Eldred, 24, mother of five youngsters. “I went back to school because my older daughters started school. I wanted to encourage them to do good in school and I didn’t want to be a hypocrite.”  

She attended GED Prep class four days a week for several hours each day. After earning her GED, Eldred secured a job at the Overleaf Lodge in Yachats. She'd like to continue school to become an ultrasound technician. 

More than study time 
Seashore created the GED prep program as a once-a-week study session. Student interest quickly expanded the program into a daily operation, and offered free lunch to fill the need for food and emotional support. 

“Students need more than just coming to class,” noted Grace Wiesner, who retired after 33 years of teaching and now serves as the program's writing tutor. “Here, it’s the support, the friendship, the meals shared.”

In fact, working with adults is ideal, she said. “They are here because they want to be here, and they are motivated.” 

Judy Parmentor, a retired teacher, agreed. “These are smart people who, for whatever reasons, didn’t finish school. Their basic skills are good, and we give them confidence.” 

Parmentor assists students with one of the most challenging subjects: math. “I’ve got Judy on speed-dial,” joked Eldred. “It’s important to have the support you get here. They (the volunteers) are amazing.”

Just shy of graduation, Ashley Norlin, 19, dropped out of high school. “I got bored. I got behind. I got into peer pressure,” she admitted. “But here, you’re with adults. No drama. No social issues. Everyone is focused.”

Norlin now works at Seashore Family Literacy, assisting with the afterschool meal program that feeds over 50 students daily. She now has a diploma, a job and her own apartment. “Having a job boosts your self-esteem,” she said. “Knowing you’re doing something for someone else feels really good.” 

Accomplishment is not without obstacles and hard work. Going back to school as an adult, when life can be complicated with children, jobs and finances, presents numerous challenges.

“I wanted to do better for my kids,” Kristi Linton-Whiteman, a 43-year-old single mother, said as she choked back tears.” I didn’t have time. I didn’t have money. There were so many obstacles. I waited a long time. If it wasn’t for this program, I could have never have done this.”

'This is my story'
Senitila McKinley, Seashore’s founder/director, looked over the graduates with pride. “Of all the programs, this is what I imagined for Seashore,” she said, “because this is my story, and I knew there were others like me.” 

When she was 22 years old, McKinley moved from the South Pacific island of Tonga to Waldport, Oregon. She spoke very little English but persevered to become an American citizen, earn her GED, become an ordained deacon in the Episcopal church, and work for the school district as an advocate for the homeless. She founded Seashore Family Literacy nearly 20 years ago. 

“To be an adult, with children, and not have your education is very difficult,” McKinley said. “When I was looking, there was nobody to help me, nowhere to go. I wanted it to be different for you. Education is going to transform your life.”