The staff of the Gilmer Learning Center wants anyone who needs help with their GED exam studies or learning English or Spanish to know the center is back up and running while also using safety precautions for students and staff.
“We are back to helping people move forward with their GEDs, as well as learning English and Spanish,” confirmed learning center director Jim Paukert. “Were trying to get people back on track and do it in a way that doesn’t put anybody at undue risk.”
Having to close for almost two months did interrupt the in-person study process for some students, said Paukert. The center also offers online study options, he noted.
“We shut down in mid-March, then re-opened in late May. We are still reaching out to people who’ve not been coming in and saying we’re back in businesses and this is how we’re doing it. Some people maybe just got thrown off track and we won’t see them again, but you never know,” Paukert said. “Our numbers are starting to pick up a little bit, though. The last couple of weeks we’ve had more people reaching out to us to see if we are back open and if we can get things going again.”
Social distancing is being used in the center’s classrooms and face masks are required, Paukert noted.
“We don’t let anyone in the building without a mask,” he added. “We’re not doing any big classes. We’re offering people (the option) to do it virtually over the computer, but most people are wanting to come in.”
With distancing being used, much of that in-person instruction is now being done one-on-one rather than in a group setting.
“We are distancing students from one another. The teachers socially distance from students as best as possible, but you can’t teach and always be socially distanced. It just doesn’t work,” Paukert said. “We have four different rooms and we try to keep it to one student per room. If a family comes in together, we can work with them as a group. Other than that, it’s mostly one-on-one.”
Brad Chapman is among the GED prep students who are glad in-person instruction has resumed at the center located next door to the Gilmer County Health Department at 30 Southside Church Street.
Chapman, who moved here from Hall County in 2019 and has been working toward getting his GED since June of last year, said he’s benefited from the center’s new one-on-one teaching approach.
“I’m so glad they are open back up because I learn better with visual stuff and one-on-one, watching someone and them explaining it to me,” Chapman said. “When I first started doing classes there, I did the online stuff. I didn’t start doing actual classes (with a teacher) till this year. I’ve passed my social studies and science tests. The only things I have left is English and math.”
One benefit of studying at the center is that the GED test preparation program allows students to work at their own pace and schedule, Chapman confirmed.
“I work third shift and my girlfriend works during the day, so on her days off I can go in and work on my GED. That works out really good,” he said. “Dita (Paukert) is an awesome instructor and she is helpful and patient with me when I don’t understand stuff. They’ve been really helpful. I wouldn’t have gotten any of it if without their help and them being patient with me and working around my schedule.”
Instruction is provided for free at the nonprofit learning center, which currently hosts four different class and study options including an adult literacy program, Reading for Non-Readers.
“It is the heart and soul of our adult literacy (program). Right now, we have no non-readers, though” Paukert said.
“Our English as a Second Language (ESL) classes are Monday-Thursday, between 3 and 8 p.m. Spanish is basically the same since the same person teaches both. ESL learners can come work our online program anytime we’re open or at home anytime. Reading for Non-Readers can be at any time, since it is always one-on-one and never a class,” he noted.
Paukert said the GED testing process has returned to being done in-person and the closest test site to Gilmer County is the Chattahoochee Tech campus in Jasper.
“They did try to do it online for about two or three months, but it apparently didn’t go all that smoothly. As best as I know, they were doing it by invitation only, (where) if a student had passed three of the tests and just needed to do one more,” he added.
To learn more about enrolling for study at the Gilmer Learning Center, call 706-276-1110 or email gilmerlearningcenter@ellijay.com.