“Third Time's A Charm"- A Story of Success through Perseverance"

L to R: Janet Stoop, Lisa Nichols, Amanda Green, Kayla Constable

“Third Time’s a Charm!” This is an old familiar saying but most people misinterpret it’s  meaning to believe  that if you repeat an action to achieve desired results,  odds will be that whatever you were trying to do or achieve will magically happen on at least the 3rd try. But what this quote is trying to convey is that by practice, perseverance, and never giving up you will achieve your goal- eventually! Don’t give up, keep on-keeping on!
 

A young lady, Amanda Green is a living example of success after perseverance. One of her longstanding goals was to obtain her General Education Diploma (GED). In the past 2 years she has really focused on her goal by attending Tuesday night classes held at Townsend Elementary School library and then by working 4 hours each day during the week with Kayla Constable, her primary Life Coach at The Arc of Delaware County. Twice she did not pass the exam. She was very disappointed and shared, “When I said I wanted to quit, Lisa Nichols (a lead Life Coach at The Arc) said “We don’t give up here, I don’t let my kids give up and I’m not letting you give up.” That was that, she turned her back and walked away and I started studying again.”
 

When asked what her hardest subjects were, “Quadratic equations!” she exclaimed. “But now I have them down pat.  Also, writing countless essays was hard too. I had thought I could write about whatever I wanted to and it was hard to write about something I was told to write about (a topic not of her choice).”
 

After taking the GED exam for the 3rd time, Amanda would occasionally log on to their website to see if the grades were posted. When she logged on Feb. 20th she saw a message that indicated “diploma sent”.  Stunned and unsure what the message really meant, she ran down the hall to show Janet Stoop, the Life Coach who had taken her  to her Tuesday night GED Classes. Janet confirmed to her that it was true, she passed!  Amanda shared that she burst into tears of happiness as did her mother when Amanda shared the good news with her.
 

When asked what she would say to others thinking about or currently working on their GED, she replied,” The hardest part is doing it every day, trying to schedule time to fit it in. It’s hard, but don’t give up! It is WORTH IT!”

With GED in hand,  Amanda has her sights set on accomplishing her dream of becoming a Teacher’s Aide.  With her determination and discipline there is no doubt that her dreams will become reality.