Earning your high school diploma can be more than just a dream

For those who left high school without a diploma, The Smoky Hill Education Service Center in Salina specializes in second chances.

In a story in Sunday's edition, service center interim Director Larry Patrick told reporter Erin Mathews that, "Schools do everything they can to keep kids from dropping out, but the reality is they do. We're here to give them an opportunity to prove to themselves that they can graduate."

The center provides online education for adults in 65 member school districts, from western Kansas to the Nebraska border. Besides Salina, it also has facilities in Enterprise, Smith Center, Belleville and Concordia.

All you have to do is be willing to work: Students have to attain at least an 80 percent on their coursework.

"We are not an easy way out," Patrick said. "We want the adults who come to us to be very proud of the diplomas they earn."

Those at the service center understand the importance of education. Service center coordinator Cindy Harlan told Mathews that a high school diploma now is considered "the bare minimum of education."

She also said that because of the students' success stories, working at the center has been the most rewarding thing she's ever done.

"We're kind of like the second chance for students," she said. "We give them the foundation, and they build on it."

As the world's economies evolve, that foundation is only going to be more necessary to getting and holding a job.

If you didn't earn your diploma the first time, here's your second chance -- to feel good about yourself, to start toward getting the job you want, to serve as a role model for your children.

-- Ben Wearing

Executive Editor

822-1421

bwearing@salina.com

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