Cowley College - Tiger Daze Yearbook (Arkansas City, KS)

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Second chance lab gets students Once they get down here, they ' re hooked. And that ' s always my goal. Terry Eaton, the woman who said that, is the body and soul of the Adult Basic Education, English as a Second Language, and General Education Diploma atCowley County Community College. Eaton runs a program designed to help people acheive their goals. Some want a high school equivalency diploma, others are working towards American citizen- ship, and some are learning the English language. There are also a number of students who aren ' t working towards any particular goal, but simply want to im- prove themselves. The program was quite small when it originated, but the number of students going through the program has increased ever since. Chris Vollweider, who runs the Learning Skills Lab in the rooms adjoining Eaton ' s program in the Renn Memorial Building, said that the growth of the ABE ESL GED program can largely be attributed to the hard work of Eaton. She ' s one of those people who is kind of behind the scenes, but she does a lot for the colllege. And she doesn ' t really get a lot of recognition. She puts in a lot of additional hours, not only here at school but at home. People are constantly calling her, and she tries to help them in any way that she can, she is a very giving person, she gives a lot of her time to her students, Vollweider said. Eaton would never accept that much credit, but she can ' t help but admit how much the program has grown. It ' s probably at least tripled, or more than that, Eaton said. It was a very small program, we had a little tiny room on the second floor of Galle-Johnson, and that was my classroom the first year. So it had like two tables, and six carrels, and my desk, and one shelf of books. And that ' s what we started with. Now it ' s kind of grown. We started out with one room, and I was here a very limited number of hours. Now I live here, she laughed. Eaton said that the program had ap- proximately 100 people in it ' s first year. It seems like the first year we hit close to 100, and then this year it was 361, Eaton said. Last year the GED lab had 246 students who actually took the equivalency testing. But Eaton explained that she has many more pupils. That ' s not reflective of the total num- ber of people who come here, because not all of them test. I ' m probably seeing at least half again as many as their figures show, at the very least, Eaton said. That ' s because not everyone who enrolls in the program wants to receive a GED diploma. Some people come in because they want to work on spelling or math or reading. And this year, with all the media coverage, they are really coming to work on their reading, because they ' ve found that there is a place to come. Some of them just didn ' t know about it, Eaton said. Adult basic education, in my estimation, is to help people brush up on whatever we can help them with. We try to help them with any thing we have to meet their needs. •• I ' ve never known of any studeni who left because they were frustrated or upset or because they didn ' t get help. -Chris Vollweider 9 Master teacher The reason the program draws mort students than some of the other schools o; its kind is because of the advancec facilities at Cowley, Eaton said. People like to come here because of tht association with the college, and 311 th equipment that we have down here. Being housed in the basement of the library let; us use any thing the library has. So w | have controlled readers and computers! and the people like that. If people go t | other classes, they get a text book, sh | explained. Eaton said that the people who do tes| for their GED are almost equally divided between those who need the certificate t | work, and those who do it for their owi gratification. A lot of them are here for personal satisfaction, because for very valk reasons they missed out on a high schoo diploma, Eaton said. And especially th older ones, because a few years ago diploma wasn ' t neccesary for a job, peopk didn ' t care. But now it ' s almost impossible to ge very much of a job without a diploma. S the GED is more neccesary than it was and I have a lot of unemployed people tha

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Focus on Cowley GETTING HIS STRIPES-Reglna Musgrove applies paint to Pam Elliot ' s son during Supermarket Sunday. Elliot also taught a class in CPR. (Photo by Brian Smith) THAT ' S ENTERTAINMENT-The Donnie Huffman band performs during Family Day. FLIPPING OUT-Jim Brown teaches gymnastics during Supermarket Sunday. (Photo by Wayne Gottstine) frequently in the South Central Kansas area, was composed almost entirely of Cowley graduates. Sue, my wife, who plays piano for us, and I both graduated from Cowley, Huff- man said. A demonstration by the girl ' s volleyball squad was at 4:30. The girls played a men ' s team from Arkansas City and soun- dly beat them in all three games. Catherine Craig, freshman volleyball player, enjoyed the match for a special reason. That was. the first time my mom saw me play, she said. From 5-6 p.m. about 25 students entered the Anything Goes Competition. Par- ticipants broke up into groups of five to take part in some hillarious relays. I liked blowing the bubbles in the bub- ble blowing contest. said Mary Dewell. Also, it was great when my mom got in on the games. She was out their jumping around and yelling with everybody else in the pop-the-balloon contest. The life-saver pass at the Anything Goes Competition was cute, said Chad Miner, one of the competition ' s audience enthusiasts. Everyone seemed to be having a blast doing it. Participants in the games worked up quite an appetite, and so had everyone else after exploring the campus with their (Continued on page 25) NON-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE-Mixing up a brew proved worthwhile for Clint Lawson and Denise Woods. The couple took third place and $15 for their efforts. (Photo by Jeff Dxiedzic) SPOONIN ' -Part of the action during Family Day was the spoon relay during the Anything Goes competition. SKIPPING ROPE-Bob Juden displays his predic- tion for lasso tricks. (Photo by Pat Pruitt)

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other Daughter Team »rry Eaton works with Louise Hagan through le English as a Second Language program, hoto by Pat Pruitt) me down here. Some of the students have dropped out of gh school, and think that it will be both isier and quicker to take their GED. But aton emphasized that they usually find it i be considerably more difficult than they iticipate. We do have a lot of younger ones. Many : the really young ones who come in won ' t nish. They come down and discover that ' s harder than they thought it was going i be, and they ' ll either give up or go back t high school, which is what they should o, she explained. Eaton is strongly opposed to the use of a ED as a shortcut for people who want to uit going to school. I would never encourage anyone to ;ave high school. They need to be there, le said. We don ' t have pep assemblies r any fun things here. And you can ' t give our parents the satisfaction of seeing you o across the stage in a cap and gown. Many people who complete the program nd receive their GED go on to attend lasses at Cowley. Eaton is un- ( Continued on page 25) A family affair Mother, daughter team Provides service to College, community Often times we hear about husband and wife teams working together, but very seldom do we hear about mothers and daughters working together. At Cowley, we have our very own mother-and- daughter team of teachers. Terry Eaton and her daughter LeAnn Sturd work together in the GED ABE ESL lab. Sturd says that working with her mother is an advantage because they know each other. The two have a sort of mental link. I have to know what she ' s thinking before she says it, Sturd said. This telepathy helps Sturd and Eaton Family work There ' s always time for a laugh and a good- natured hug when Terry Eaton and daughter LeAnn Sturd team up. Eaton and Sturd have become a winning combination for the hun- dreds of students who use the ABE GED ESL lab. (Photo by Pat Pruitt) sometimes when working with certain students. Because of the age difference between the two, Sturd and Eaton are able to help students in different ways. If one student is uncomfortable with Eaton, then Sturd can help them and vice-versa. Probably the biggest advantage of the Eaton and Sturd team is they can help each other when things are rough. If one person is discouraged then the other is there to help them through it. Sturd said that she and her mother have the same basic philosophy of life. They both want to help people. Sturd has her degree in elementary education and Eaton, a degree in secondary education. The only problem with us working together is if we both want to go to the same family function, saidSturd. All in all, the two work together well, Sturd thinks. Growing up with her mother as a teacher really had no infuence on Sturd going into the education. I just decided to be a teacher, Sturd said. She did say, however; that working with her mother part time in the GED ABE ESL lab affected her coming to work at Cowley. Eaton and Sturd had worked together previously and when the opportunity for a full-time job opened up, Sturd decided to go ahead and take it full-time rather than remain part-time. I was interested in the job, so I took it, she said. Sturd attended Cowley for three and a half semesters but never graduated. Other members of the Eaton family have, and are presently, attending Cowley. Stacy Eaton, Sturd ' s younger sister is currently attending Cowley, her father Lyle has been on the Board of Trustees and her mother graduated in 1954. This makes Cowley a kind of family affair. by Stephanie Bruner