Institute Graduates Receive Two Diplomas

SPRINGDALE — Tonya Carter said she regrets dropping out of high school two weeks before graduation.

Carter and Cody Pharris, graduating students at Northwest Technical Institute, have similar stories. Chanitnun Hernandez moved from Thailand, and decided to continue her education. All three are graduating with a general education diploma as well as their institute diplomas, and it only took them one school year to earn both.

Carter, 42, has two sons in their early 20s, she said. She was 18 when she dropped out of Prairie Grove High School. The only thing she wanted was to be a stay-at-home mom.

“I was very childish and selfish, and only thought about me,” she said. “I was young and dumb.”

Many students drop out of school thinking they can handle life without a high school diploma, said James Smith Jr., deputy director of adult education at the Arkansas Department of Career Education. They start working and think they are making a lot of money. They don’t realize they made a bad decision until they can no longer live on the wages they are earning, he said.

“I thought I knew everything,” Carter said. “I realize now I didn’t know anything.”

Carter was a stay-at-home mom while her children were in school, she said. She told them often not to drop out of school.

She went back to work after her children graduated from high school, Carter said. She worked as a waitress because that was the only job she could get.

A high school diploma is important because it allows people to make more money, said Terri Ralston, director of adult education at the institute. Many entry level jobs require a high school diploma because the economy has allowed employers to be more selective in their hiring.

“It’s more and more difficult to find a job without that diploma,” she said.

An increase in education level generally means an increase in the amount of money a person earns, according to the U.S. Census Bureau website. People who dropped out of high school between ninth and 12th grades earn about $10,996 a year; those with a high school diploma earn about $21,569 a year; and those with an associate’s degree earn about $32,602 a year.

Carter decided to go back to school last summer and passed her general education development test in July, she said. Then she enrolled in the computer and information systems programming in order to become a computer technician.

“I like to take stuff apart and put it back together,” she said.

She hopes to set an example for her sons by going back to school, she said. The next step is to find a job.

“I have a lot of options right now,” she said. “I’m going to see where the road takes me.”

Pharris, 23, will start a new job with ARCom, an alarm and surveillance company, next week where he will install and repair equipment, he said.

Pharris dropped out of school after 11th grade, but said he doesn’t regret the decision because he wouldn’t have experienced and learned the same things if he had stayed in school.

Pharris switched to homeschooling in high school because he felt he was ahead of what he was being taught, he said.

Every student has a different reason for dropping out of school, Smith said. It’s easier for home school students to drop out because there is no one to help them stay focused.

Pharris got a job in construction and woodworking when he dropped out, he said. He also started working in landscaping.

He noticed his back was hurting from the manual labor, Pharris said. He knew he was too young to have that type of pain and decided he wanted to do more.

Pharris received his general education diploma in August, just in time to register for classes at the institute, he said. He decided to focus on electronics.

Pharris said the large number of job possibilities made him want to work in the technology industry.

Hernandez, 35, also went back to school because she wanted to have more job possibilities, she said. She grew up in Thailand, received that country’s version of a general education diploma, went to and dropped out of two universities and eventually followed her mother and stepfather to the United States.

She lost her Thai diploma, and decided to earn a general education diploma, Hernandez said. She started taking accounting classes because she wants to be more self-reliant. She also wants her two young children to be able to depend on her, she said.

“I’m ready to change,” she said. “I’m ready to step up.”