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ADULT LEARNER EARNS HIS HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA
For Al-Fatah Kennedy, the road to success has taken a lot of twists and turns. He dropped out of school during his senior year at Newark’s Malcolm X Shabazz High School and started hanging in the streets.
“I just stopped going,” recalled Kennedy, now a 43-year-old truck driver. “I started driving trucks 20 years ago and recently decided it was time to go back to school and get my GED.”
He enrolled in a GED Prep Class at the New Community’s Adult Learning Center in Newark back in April.
“It was rough because I had to get up at 4 0’clock in the morning and be to work by 5,” Kennedy recalled. “Then I would get off work at 4 p.m. and rush to the NCC Workforce Development Center to be in class by 5 p.m.”
His teacher, Delya Holt, recalled Kennedy as being “determined and focused.” The subjects he had to master included read, writing, math, science and social studies.
“He was focused and quiet, but asked questioned and he did all of his assignments. With his full-time job as a truck driver, he was still able to come to class every single day,” said Holt, who taught the class at 201 Bergen Street in Newark.
Kennedy initially took the GED test in June and passed all sections except math. When he re-took the math exam in early July, this time he passed.
“I was proud of myself. Now I plan on going to Essex County College and studying African-American studies,” said Kennedy, a father of four children who is engaged to be married. “My message to others would be don’t ever give up on your goals.”
For more information on classes offered by NCC’s Adult Learning Center, please call 973 558-5536.
