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grolfe
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Posted: Fri Jun 19th, 2009 04:01 pm |
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By Glenn Rolfe
Sussex Post
GEORGETOWN – As a teen growing up in rural North Carolina, high school graduation was not Elias Watkins’ top priority.
Helping to put food on the family table was.
“We were sharecroppers. I didn’t have an opportunity to go to school. I worked. I had to feed myself,” said Mr. Watkins, a resident of Rehoboth Beach. “And on top of that I was dyslexic. I didn’t find out until I was 19 years old. I was told I was just lazy. I taught myself to read by reading the newspaper.”
On June 9, Mr. Watkins received his diploma – one of 64 graduates in the James H. Groves Adult High School Sussex Center’s Class of 2009.
Soon to turn 75, Mr. Watkins is the elder statesman of this year’s class and one of the oldest graduates in the 45-year history of the adult high school program based in Sussex County and administered by Sussex Technical School District.
Mr. Watkins, who operated his own trucking business in New York City and New Jersey for 22 years, retired and moved his family to Delaware for tax purposes. The father of three said his four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren provided the motivation in pursuing his high school diploma. He came to Groves in 2002, needing all 22 credits to graduate.
“I wanted to be an inspiration to my grandkids and my great-grandchildren, and anyone else I could help,” said Mr. Watkins. “The program saved me. It made me a different man. I owe this all to the teachers.”
Thirty members of the 2009 class are parents, six of them are grandparents and 47 are employed, said Groves Adult High School Principal Terri Corder.
Another notable Groves graduate is 68 year old Bishopville, Md. resident Jennie Davis, who got off the high school educational path after 10th grade when she began traveling with her sister who was married to a migrant worker.
“I just got lost in the system after that,” she said. “I got lost in traveling.”
Inspired by a friend and co-worker at a nursing rehabilitation center, Mrs. Davis – who has been employed for 22 years as a certified nursing assistant and still works fulltime – chose to get her diploma.
“We talked and education came around and one or two words of encouragement, and here I am,” she said. “It gives me more confidence in myself. It builds self esteem.”
She took classes two nights a week for six years – with perfect attendance.
“I never missed a night. It was motivation from my husband and my children,” said Mrs. Davis.
Students in the Groves program took classes at Sussex Tech Adult Division in Georgetown, Delaware Dept. of Labor, Employment & Training in Georgetown, Hickory Tree Housing Development in Selbyville, Woodbridge High School in Bridgeville and Philadelphia Pentecostal Holiness Church in Ellendale.
News Editor Glenn Rolfe can be reached at 629-5505 or grolfe@newszap.com.
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