What is “achievement”? I’m glad you asked! Achievement is defined as “a thing done successfully, typically by effort, courage or skill”. I love, love, love this definition!
I was reminded of it this afternoon, when I got an email from a Horizon Goodwill vocational case manager, Misty Cubbage, celebrating the achievement of one of her clients, Zackary Taylor (center): “I would like to congratulate Zackary Taylor on obtaining his Maryland High School diploma! Zackary recently completed the Adult Education Program through Allegany College of Maryland (ACM). His classes were here at our Goodwill’s Career Readiness Campus in Cumberland where he was enrolled in the job training program through Goodwill! He is our first graduate from our partnership with ACM. We are very excited to watch him walk across the stage on June 14 at the graduation ceremony!”
Last summer, ACM started offering GED and Adult Basic Education classes at our Goodwill Career Readiness Campus in Cumberland, MD. The ACM Team wanted their classes to reach more people and we wanted we wanted more of our clients to continue their education. Since September 2016, thirteen (13) people have enrolled in classes, and almost half of those students also enrolled with Goodwill in our paid work training program. Now, individuals who want to get their GED/diploma and need to find a job or earn a paycheck, can come to one place and do both – go to class in the morning, then walk across the campus and go to work after lunch.
To achieve anything, you must put forth the effort, enlist your courage, dust off your thinking cap and keep at it. That’s what Zackary did; what he is continuing to do. “I do not want my little girl to grow up thinking it is okay to do things the way I did them. I didn’t do this just for me. I did this for my family and friends who believed in me. I wanted to prove them right.”
Congratulations again Zackary! Goodwill is honored to be a part of your journey.
For more information, feel free to contact me at cfleming@goodwill-hgi.org. And, as always, please check us out on Facebook and Twitter.