Kawartha Lakes Mums: How Could Free Upgrading Change Your Life? An Invitation [My Story]

Monday 19 January 2015

How Could Free Upgrading Change Your Life? An Invitation [My Story]

Kawartha Lakes Mums Readers Do You Have An Education Story?

Update : Did you miss the following chat? Read our Facebook Upgrading Chat and add your questions and suggestions here.
Tuesday January 20, 2015, Kawartha Lakes Mums invites you to a Facebook Chat about ~~Adult~~ Academic upgrading.
Think you can't realize your dream because you've been labelled too [insert nasty word here] ?

Well, take it from someone who's been there.

You CAN do it!
FTC Disclosure: Kawartha Lakes Mums welcomes family friendly advertising including affiliate links that meet with our editorial guidelines. This helps us put food on our table at no additional cost to our readers.
This post contains a bit of how free adult upgrading changed my life, and information about upcoming SSFC Upgrading Events.
Do you have an encouraging education story?
Some questions to ask?
Please pour a cup of tea and join our chat.

Sir Sandford Fleming College Offers Free Academic Upgrading

Free Upgrading Facebook Chat 11am January 20,2015

Our local college, Sir Sandford Fleming College, offers free academic upgrading, your local college might also offer free upgrading as well.
Did someone label you too [insert nasty word here] and squash your hopes and dreams?

Well take it from someone who's been there.

You CAN accomplish your dreams.

Tuesday, January 20, 2015 11:00 am pour yourself a cup of tea, and join us for a FB chat with Michelle O' Donohoe of Sir Sandford Fleming College Frost Campus Adult Upgrading.

Free Adult Education Upgrading - My Experience : High School Failure to Teacher

Teaching- A Dream Started in Grade Two

Do you remember a time when you had a dream?

Perhaps a looong time ago?
When I was in Grade two, I was enchanted with the idea of being a teacher.
A trip to Lang Pioneer Village sealed it - I wanted to teach in the pioneer village classroom when I grew up. Many obstacles lay between Grade Two and my dream coming true.
Adult Upgrading Courses from SSFC helped me overcome some of those hurdles.
Here is a bit of my journey.
I hope it encourages you.

Girls Don't Need Math?

Grade 10 I failed Math miserably, and was told:

"Girls don't need math. Why not just drop it and stick with languages, since you're good with them? "

As you can see this was waaaay back when dinosaurs roamed the earth - and high school guidance offices.

High School Drop Out - Spiralling Down the Drain

Later, when I returned home from a year in Germany as a exchange student, I found out my work in Germany would not be credited towards my diploma.

A series of unfortunate events followed.

A few years later, I found myself married, no high school diploma, no job, expecting a baby, in dire financial straits and very ill. The GP said I needed to lie on my left side for the next six months - either at my parents or in hospital.

SSFC Upgrading Renews Hope

I can't remember what lead me to go into the Sir Sandford Fleming Campus, and borrow the Math upgrading modules.
Since I was on doctor's orders to stay in bed, I worked on my own at home. The step-by-step modules made it easy to learn at my own pace.

Learning with those free modules was empowering - it rekindled a love of learning I had lost.

Math Failure to Math Excellence

A year later, I took a Women in Non-Traditional Trades course, at SSFC. The course lead to a job at Milltronics in Peterborough. With the assistance of my employer, I then took a SSFC College Math Course at night school.

Next, I wrote a Math Admissions test for Electrical Technician Programmable Logic Control Systems.
My mark?
The highest they had ever seen.

They had me rewrite the test, "Just in case there had been a mistake."

Yes, dinosaurs were still roaming the earth.

No mistake. I scored 99.5% -half a percent higher than the previous test.
I was admitted to the program and exempted from mathematics.

Grade Two Dream Realized

Since that time, I've taken many more courses, gradually earning my Trent Queens B.A. B.Ed. in Cultural Studies.
Did I ever realize my dream of teaching in the Lang Pioneer Village School?
Yes.

Free Upgrading - You Can Realize Your Dream Too!

I thank God for whoever set me on that path of encouragement so many years ago with those free home study modules for High School Mathematics. Do you have a dream tucked away in a corner of your mind?
The sky's the limit.
The journey may begin with a single step.
Could free upgrading courses be the beginning of your journey?

Join us Tuesday January 20, 2015 11 am on Kawartha Lakes Mums Facebook Page or join Michelle in-person at bi-weekly Wednesday Morning info sessions at Sir Sandford Fleming College Frost Campus Lindsay.
Here is the schedule for upcoming sessions: