After dropping out of school in the tenth grade, Josh Weaver admits that he “got into some things [he] shouldn’t have” over the next several years, but was determined to make a positive change in his life. He spoke with a friend who had earned her GED® from Perry County Literacy Council, and with encouragement from his wife, Ashley, he ultimately decided it was time for him to do the same. He began attending classes at PCLC in late 2016—not long before Linda Andrews joined the organization as a tutor.
It wasn’t long before Josh was paired with Linda for help passing his HiSET® exam. The writing portion of the test came first—Linda encouraged Josh to write about his own life experiences, though Josh was hesitant at first to share his life story with a relative stranger, fearing she would “know too much about [him].” However, they gradually grew more comfortable together and began mutually pushing one another to succeed.
“I had an awesome tutor,” Josh says. “I don’t think there was a dull moment between us two…I had a good thing going from day one, but when I met [Linda] and was working with her…I got it.”
Once Josh had passed the writing and language arts tests, the time came for him to take the math exam. He insisted on working with Linda; however, Linda was not well-versed in higher-level math. As she recalls: “I said to him, ‘You need another tutor. I would be doing you a disservice if I kept on going…that algebra looks like Greek to me!’ And he said, ‘Well, we’ll learn it together!’”
Linda’s sons encouraged her to take free classes on the Kahn Academy website, where, all told, she spent at least 100 hours studying to tutor Josh in math. In addition, Josh drew from his experience as a construction worker to solve problems involving ratios, conversions and measurements. With Linda’s help, Josh passed his HiSET® and obtained his GED® over the span of nine months.
“Josh was a pleasure…He wanted to get this done and he was determined to do the best that he could do.” – Linda Andrews
