Borrowing Others Belief

We have no shortage of remarkable comeback stories via our Ardmore Family Literacy students.  Each and everyone walks through our doors with the possibility of setting the world on fire.  I’d like however to focus a little on Tammy in this article, one of our latest GED graduates.

Tammy walked in our doors right at one year ago this month.  She was a single mother of three who’d just connected with some housing assistance thru DHS.  Up until then she and her three kiddos had been living in shelters for more than a year.  She was set up to get an apartment and directed our way by her DHS caseworker.

Having been in and fled a bad marital situation left Tammy lacking in confidence.  She started the class here being very skeptical of her own abilities but willing to work since she believed the only way for a better life for her and her children was thru her getting more education.  She buckled down, attended class each day the doors opened and by June had passed three of the four tests required to attain her GED.  Math appeared to be the only real challenge for her so while she worked a job on our summer break, she also kept her skills sharp and came to class this fall intent on checking that pesky math test off her to-do list.  On December 13, 2017, she did just that at the testing site in Durant.  Tammy, the four of students who tested that day and I jumped around with excitement.

As Tammy and I sat across from each other the next morning and talked about her future plans it was hard not to reflect on the first day she walked in my office.  Scared and unsure of herself she relied solely on our belief in her until she was able to develop a belief system of her own.  By Dec 13th she’d acquired her own belief in herself and feels empowered to keep working towards the goal of providing the most she can for her young children.  We both now feel her unstoppable in her quest.

Tammy isn’t unlike many of our students who missed something while they were school age.  For some it was a lack of a consistent home life, others it was falling behind early on in reading and math and some just didn’t have quality school options.  The fact that they have a chance to come here and redeem themselves is what makes every day a good day here at AFL.