Getting a General Education Development certificate—commonly known as the GED—is probably harder than you think. The GED test is a seven-hour, five-subject battery of examinations that only 60% of seniors graduating from a traditional high school program are able to pass on a first attempt. In 2007, American Council on Education statistics showed that over 728,000 people attempted the test and, of these, only 86% completed the entire battery and only about 62% earned passing scores.(To the Left Literacy AmeriCorps Memeber and 2009 GED recipiant Courtney Bartet hands out white roses to all of the GED recipiants from the  St. Bernard Parish Adult Education program).

Speaking with current GED certificate recipients brings to light other aspects of the challenge. Over and over, they echo the refrains of family issues, setbacks, discouragement, and problems that have led to hiatuses—sometimes for as long as fifteen years. It is with difficulties such as these in mind that the Literacy Alliance of Greater New Orleans has sought to commemorate, for the third year running, the tremendous accomplishment that is reflected by the receipt of a GED certificate.

The regional GED graduation ceremony is itself a product of adversity, as Rachel Nicolosi, Executive Director of the Literacy Alliance, explains. “We did not have regional graduation ceremonies before the hurricane—everybody just did their own small ceremony. It started after the hurricane as a result of the increased connection and collaboration of struggling literacy programs after the [storm].”  

These programs include the adult education components of Catholic Charities Archdiocese of New Orleans, Delgado Community College, Hope House, Saint Bernard Parish, and Saint Vincent de Paul as well as the Jefferson Parish Even Start Family Literacy Center, the Kedila Family Learning Center, the Louisiana Green Corps, the New Orleans Job Corps Center, New Orleans Providing Literacy for All Youth, and the St. Charles Avenue Presbyterian Church GED Program.

Combined, these programs produced 120 successful graduates this year whose families, friends, and loved ones packed Loyola University’s Roussel Performance Hall on May 15 to standing room only capacity, as has come to be expected of the ceremony. After addresses from classmates, instructors, and dignitaries and an inspirational keynote speech given by actor Lance Nichols of “Treme” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” fame, the moment of truth arrived. To rousing cheers and the occasional airhorn blast, the graduates walked the stage and received the certificates that marked the culmination of their efforts.

For most, though, this achievement is more a beginning than an end. Post-ceremony, graduates again echoed each other’s remarks, only this time on a more upbeat note:

“I’d really like to further my education some more.”

“I’m going to be applying for some different colleges.”

“I’m going back to school, man. I missed my chance for that once, and it’s not happening again.”

Natasha Lawrence, a graduate from the Delgado Community College Adult Education Program, will be attending Delgado in the fall as a degree candidate and plans to continue even beyond that to pursue a degree in social work at Tulane. Like others, she speaks of the difficulty inherent to the pursuit of a GED certificate. “I stopped coming to class at one point because I was really discouraged and I wasn’t making any progress. Then Erin [Landry, Assistant Director of the Delgado adult education program,] called me one day and informed me I should come back to the program, so I did. I want to tell others don’t give up. It’s a hard road, but you can do it.”

And, after all the struggle, how does it feel when you do? Says Lawrence: “I’m floating on a cloud right now.”