Due to the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, mandated school closures kept many students out of the classroom and in front of a computer for up to eight hours a day. Some of these teens made the decision to leave high school altogether and pursue a high school equivalency diploma just to avoid the required screen time. Some students like current Adult Ed student, Cibian, said, “I didn’t want to stay in high school after they added an extra year on.” Cassandra, another Adult Ed student at the NMSU-Grants campus said, “I teach my kids to push hard and do good. I wanted to be a role model. My kids inspired me to come back and do school. After this, I want to go to cosmetology school.”
NMSU-Grants is a place where a student can get a certificate, an associate’s degree, a bachelor’s degree in nursing, and if a student dropped out of high school, that student can complete their high school education through the Adult Education program located on the second floor of McKinley Hall. Managed by Christy Lochrie, the Adult Ed program encourages students to complete their high school education through a supportive, individualized approach. “Everyone starts by coming to orientation, so they can learn about how the program works, and from there some students return and some don’t.” Lochrie said she attempts to connect with students by shar- ing parts of her own life that they may be able to relate to like the fact that her parents both dropped out of high school, married and eventually divorced, but her dad chose to return to school and get his GED so that he could join the Air Force, go to college on the GI Bill, and pursue a career. Her mother, on the other hand, did not return to school to complete her education and subsequently struggled her entire adult life.
“I think the biggest barrier for students is internal,” Lochrie said. “They’ve met failure before and don’t want to meet it again. We want students to feel like they belong.” Five recent Adult Ed grads are using the NM Opportunity Scholarship which covers 100 percent of tuition and fees for eligible students pursuing certificates and/or degrees at any public college or university in the state of New Mexico.
The NMSU-Grants Adult Ed program currently has approximately one hundred students between the ages of 16 and 67. Classes run Monday through Thursday and will continue through June. To register for an orientation, call 505-2876683 or 505-287-6643. You can also email: aegrants@ nmsu.edu.