A Student’s Accomplishments

By Sandra F. Bowlus, HSE Teacher, Education Center of Rising Sun

Tylor Marino exited South Dearborn High School as a senior when informed that he lacked the credits to graduate due to below average grades. On August 1, 2016 he enrolled in the HSE adult education program at the Education Center of Rising Sun with the goal of wanting to enlist in the Marines and therefore needing to have a high school diploma.

After being pretested, his score on reading was above 9.0 but below on math and language. His language was a 4.7 grade equivalent and math was 6.6. Analyzing his results readily signified that he had several performance objectives to accomplish before he could begin to study for the TASC test. Using the one-on-one approach, it was realized that he could not solve simple fractions or per cents. He had little knowledge of algebra, geometry, measurement, or computation in context. In addition, his language skills were deficient in usage, punctuation, and sentence formation. In a “nut shell”, Tylor had much to learn; however, through determination and dedication to the tasks at hand, Tylor raised his language to a 10.7, reading increased to a 10.8, and the math score was raised to 8.9 by November of 2016.

As Tylor’s skills increased so did his confidence in himself. It was decided that he would take one TASC test at-a-time for better concentration and to keep the momentum going. He passed all TASC tests except math. It was time to go back to the drawing board and tutor Tylor in understanding polynomials, systems of equations, quadratic equations, geometry, measurements, and Pythagorean theorem. Finally, one day Tylor announced after much studying, “I got this!” On December 12, 2016, Tylor passed his math TASC test. Only through his desire to succeed was this possible.

With an easy rapport among the other HSE students, Tylor was becoming more assertive and self-reliant. Tylor requested to take the welding course being offered at Ivy Tech in Madison. Starting at 8 AM and driving an hour to Madison in the winter months could have been a negative; however, Tylor was applauded by his welding instructor as being one of the top students in his class and therefore allowed Tylor to study additional welding techniques. He received the AWS welding certification and was immediately hired as a sub-contractor by Bruns-Gutzwiller through the Local Labor Union 741 earning $34.85 an hour.

In all, using a one-on-one educational approach at the Education Center of Rising Sun, Tylor learned that he could achieve and be successful in his accomplishments. Tylor’s mother feels that with the family-like environment of the education center, one-on-one instruction, and the feeling that he was valued as a person and as a student, he was finally able to achieve his high school equivalency diploma.