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DURHAM -- Seventeen and a half years ago, Robyn Campbell dropped out of school. At the time, she had a total of 1.5 high school credits.
This week, Campbell took her final GED test, completing the last requirement for a high school equivalency diploma. Next month, she will begin college-level courses at Durham Tech.
And then, after she gets her associate's degree, she wants to continue on to get bachelor's and master's degrees, and become a child therapist.
"You have to say, 'I want this,' " Campbell said, "and, 'I'm going to get it.' "
Campbell is going to get it because of Durham Tech's Breaking Through program, which has expanded significantly in the past year.
The program, which began five years ago as part of a national pilot project, is designed to move adult students from high-school dropout to college graduate. The program got a boost in the fall when it received a one-year "Scaling Up" grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Scaling Up focuses on low-skilled adults who begin their studies in the Adult Basic Education program, earn a GED and then transition to college.
"We want them to [walk] across the stage twice," said Christine Kelly-Kleese, dean of student engagement and transitions at Durham Tech. "Once to get their GED or high school certificate and once to get their college or professional certificate or degree."
Scaling Up targets older students who are unemployed or underemployed and have not yet earned a high school credential, said Kelly-Kleese. "We know that's a long road for students," she said, "and the final data isn't in yet, but it does seem to be working."
The Gates grant -- one of just five given out to community colleges nationwide -- has enabled the school to take on an additional 115 students into Breaking Though, for a total program enrollment now of 286.
Phil Walton is exactly the kind of student targeted by the program.
He was a high school dropout. He worked for 13 years as an electrician. He got laid off.
But even before losing his job, "I knew I didn't want to just install things for the rest of my life," he said. "You can only go so much higher without a degree, without a paper. I didn't want to just stay where I was. I wanted to move up."
Funded initially by the GlaxoSmithKline Foundation, Breaking Through is free to the students who qualify; in addition, it provides a series of milestones and incentive awards for students.
A student, for instance, who makes progress in adult basic education can receive awards of from $50 to $300; enrolling in the GED program is worth a $100 book voucher at the school book store and a student graduating from the GED program would receive $100 plus a voucher for a tuition-free college course.
"The students absolutely love those book vouchers," said Kenya Harris, student adviser for Breaking Through. "They realize how expensive books are."
In addition to the financial incentives, Breaking Through offers intense academic help, hands-on instructors, peer mentors and a program adviser. The students are carefully tracked and guided through the program.
For Campbell, who worked for years as a cashier and in food service before she, too, got laid off, it hasn't been easy.
"It's hard to go home and take care of your children after you've been in school all day," she said. "It's hard to focus sometimes, to get back into that kind of mindset. But you just got to keep seeing that light at the end of the tunnel."
But the alternative, she knew, was worse.
"I couldn't get a job," she recalled. "Places would ask me for a transcript and I didn't have one. So I figured, if I couldn't get a job, I should go back to school and get a career."
For Walton, enrolling in Breaking Through was an easy decision.
"I tell people, 'Dude, you're a fool if you don't look into this,' " Walton said. "Man, it's free. You're a fool if you don't take them up on this."
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For more info on Breaking Through
Students can enroll in Breaking Through at any time, after they complete the orientation courses and are screened for the program.
If you or someone you know is interested in the Breaking Through program, contact Gregory Bellamy, program director of Workplace & Correctional Education at Durham Tech, at 536-7236, ext. 3251. His e-mail is bellamyg@durhamtech.edu.
Any other questions about the program should be directed to Christine Kelly-Kleese, dean of student engagement, at 536-7231, ext. 2402. Her e-mail is kleesec@durhamtech.edu.
