National Adult Literacy Database

May 6, 2013

This week, we have a story written by David Gray, from Montague, PEI. David attends Holland College adult education Centre in Montague. He passed his GED, and his dreams are coming true. In September 2013, he has been accepted at the Environmental Applied Science Technology program at Holland College. The story below was submitted to the Message in a Bottle writing contest by the PEI Literacy Alliance for people enrolled in an adult learning program.

Essay

by David Gray

This is my third year of attendance at the Holland College adult education Centre in Montague. When I retired in 2007 I discovered after a time my life had become tedious and uninteresting. My feelings of self worth were declining and my vision of the future was bleak. Time, as they say, was standing still.

I decided to do something about a dream I've had since high school. Work at getting a grade twelve diploma. I entered the GED program in the fall of 2009 and graduated the following spring. It was a thrill to achieve that goal and left me wanting for more. A friend who works for Skills PEl suggested I look at the courses offered at Holland College and so I made an appointment with a student councilor at the Prince of Wales campus in Charlottetown.

They helped me identify where my interests lie and what course would be most suitable for me. I discovered a career path which I consider a perfect fit. Now all that remained was to meet the entrance requirements for that particular course.

April, 2013. This is the month I expect to have completed my upgrading requirements. The support and excellent instruction I receive from the teachers at the adult ed centre is second to none and has given me the confidence I need to set goals for myself that three short years ago were inconceivable to me. I have applied and been accepted into the Environmental Applied Science Technology program, with a start date of September, 2013.

Dreams can, and do come true!

[This story was taken with permission, from the PEI Literacy Alliance website, under Winning Entries - Message in a Bottle.]