VGCC Literacy Programs Will Soon Be Available at The Homework Center
Vance-Granville Community College will be adding a new community-based site for it literacy programs in April when it begins offering pre-GED and GED classes for adults at The Homework Center in Crossroads Shopping Center.
Jo Tyler, owner of The Teacher Store and The Homework Center, is partnering with VGCC to fill a void in basic literacy instruction. “We are trying to bring the programs to people in the area of Crossroads who need their GEDs and who have transportation problems in getting to our campus,” said Leo Kelly Jr., VGCC Dean of Adult Basic Education.
The GED instruction will begin in The Homework Center, next door to the Post Office at Crossroads on W. Andrews Avenue, with day classes from 9 a.m. to noon and from 6 to 9 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Prospective students will go to the VGCC main campus on Poplar Creek Road for assessment, then the college will place people who live near The Homework Center in classes there for their convenience.
VGCC will provide instructors for the classes, as well as books, instructional materials and software for computers used in the classes.
The college will place several computers in The Homework Center. Students who wish to work on their GEDs and Adult High School Diplomas online and who do not have computers at home may go to the Center between 3 and 7 p.m., Monday-Thursday, and use the computers there.
Kelly said that VGCC is also looking into offering English As A Second Language classes at The Homework Center at a later date.
Tyler, a former classroom teacher and librarian, opened The Teacher Store to provide teaching and instructional supplies and materials locally. The store markets its supplies to 11 school systems in eight counties, including several in Southern Virginia as well as area counties. Kathy Wohlford manages The Teacher Store.
After receiving requests from teachers and parents for tutoring services, Tyler opened The Homework Center in late 2005. Here, certified teachers work with students in small groups doing homework. “Our teachers are an extension of the students’ classrooms,” Tyler said. The teachers will be able to answer questions for GED online students, also. Tonya Grissom is manager of The Homework Center.
Persons interested in the GED classes at The Homework Center or who wish information on other basic skills instruction at Vance-Granville Community College may call the college at (252) 438-VGCC.
RACE 4 LITERACY– Leo Kelly Jr., Dean of Adult Basic Education at Vance-Granville Community College, center, presents a banner to Jo Tyler, left, owner of The Homework Center, and Tonya Grissom, manager, for display at the business in Crossroads Shopping Center. The Homework Center is providing space to the college for a community-based site for VGCC pre-GED and GED classes, scheduled to begin in April. (VGCC Photo)
