With close to 200,000 adults in Northern Indiana who do not have a high school diploma, Goodwill Industries of Michiana recognized completing that diploma as a critical need within the communities it serves. While GEDs are an option to further education, Goodwill wanted to offer an alternative and created The Excel Centers.
“It’s not a GED program. It’s the same thing that our students at any one of our local public high schools or private residences are receiving; it’s just designed for students over the age of 18,” said Goodwill’s Vice President of Community Engagement Guy Fisher.
There are four centers in Northern Indiana located in South Bend, Hammond, and Gary as well as a new location in Elkhart, and these Excel Centers welcomed around 700 students this fall. The Excel Centers have over 20 course offerings, five enrollment sessions per year, and around 300 total graduates.
The teachers at these Excel Centers are all seasoned teachers who wanted a new option. They saw that they were losing students in the traditional system and viewed the Excel Centers as a way to help those who fell through the cracks. They craved forming one-on-one relationships with students to better help them navigate their way through completing their high school educations.
The Excel Centers are all about meeting students where they are at not just regarding their skills and education level, but also in regard to the barriers in their lives that have so far prevented them from completing their goals. This is why the Excel Centers also have life coaches on staff in addition to teachers.
“One of the things that we’ve realized is that many of our students left school for a reason,” Fisher said. “One of my colleagues likes to talk about the ‘bags of rocks’ in their backpack. They were carrying rocks in this backpack that weighed them down, and it caused them to step away. Now, years later, those rocks are probably still in that backpack, and they’ve added a few more of them. We want to know, ‘What else is going on in your world? How do we break these barriers down and let you have an opportunity to finish what you started?’”
One of the common obstacles these students face is transportation, so Goodwill pays public transit systems to provide transportation to those without the means to commute to the Excel Centers. The need for childcare services is another common obstacle, so the Excel Centers have free childcare on-site for families. The Excel Centers not only offer childcare, but they also educate students’ children through the HighScope program.
“Mom or dad can drop their child off at the Kids Excel Center and go on to do their coursework with their teachers all while their children are in a curriculum program as well,” Fisher said.
With all these services available to break down barriers, students are opting for this face-to-face alternative to GED programs. Fisher noted that every time he walks through one of the Excel Centers, he never catches anyone in the back of the room with their head on a desk; they are engaged.
Students are not only engaging with their education, but they are also engaging with each other. Fisher recalls being at one of the Excel Centers and eavesdropping on a conversation between two students. A young woman was struggling to read out loud and mispronouncing things. An older woman came over to help. The older woman sat and read with her; the young woman would pronounce a word incorrectly, and the older woman would gently correct her as she slowly worked through her reading.
“As she kept on reading, it became easier for her. Every time she read a sentence and got through it, she sat up just a little bit taller. You can see the confidence just starting to build. You’ve got these two students both going down this journey, and one of them was able to help the other in that pathway. It was just the most incredible thing, and we see that happen over and over,” Fisher said. “Our students engage with one another. They support one another because the reality is they don’t have to be in this program; nothing is forcing them here except their desire to get their high school diploma finished. They all lean into one another, and so the Excel Center really is an inspiring place.”
To learn more about the Goodwill Excel Centers, visit www.ExcelCenterHS.org. For more information about Goodwill Industries of Michiana, visit www.Goodwill-NI.org.
