Advancing the common good begins with courageous individuals. To maintain dedication, people need a strong foundation in education, financial stability and health.
It’s called “stopping out.” Many working adults who attempt to earn a GED or other educational certification do not achieve their goal. There are any number of barriers to gaining the literacy and computer skills necessary to complete a workforce readiness test. For Eulalia President, raising her family of three children took priority over studying, paying for test fees, and making the trip to Trident Literacy in North Charleston. Eulalia stopped out many times.
Eulalia dropped out of school at age fifteen and soon had a family to raise. "I always wanted more for my kids than myself," the mother of three explains. When she began to pursue her own education, the journey was not easy. “She came and left. And came back again,” says Stella Neccar of Trident Literacy, who tutored Eulalia during the eight years that it took for her to earn her GED. Eulalia cried the day she graduated from Trident Literacy, a Trident United Way funded partner, with a silver WorkKey and a GED.
Now near completion of a work-study program and an associate’s degree at Trident Technical College, Eulalia is on the brink of more exciting life changes. After graduating from Trident Tech, the honors student plans to continue her education and achieve a masters degree in psychology. Eulalia wants to open her own counseling practice for inner-city youth coming from poverty. Currently, she mentors children at St. John’s Chapel in downtown Charleston. She is also in a city-run program for first time homebuyers and is saving money for a down payment on a home.