By Staff
AFLAC – many of us have heard of them and know what they do and who they serve-probably as a result of their catchy ads.
I happen to be an AFLAC customer.
Their representative was in our building recently helping those of us here who have accounts with them.
After my business with her was complete, she leaned back in her chair and said, "What do you do here and what kind of students do you serve?"
I answered her question; she thanked me and left.
Her question is one that I am frequently asked.
As a result, I'm going to answer the question again in this article and perhaps reach a larger audience than I normally do.
Alternative and Adult Education in Dowagiac offers our students an opportunity to earn a GED certificate or a high school diploma.
We provide services to students ages 16 through 99 (perhaps 99 is an exaggeration, but our point is that we do, in fact, help considerably older students become successful academically).
Basically, we offer students who have been unsuccessful academically in another school(s) another chance to become successful.
Our students have been unsuccessful elsewhere for a very long list of different reasons.
I'll name just a few: medical problems, emotional problems, transportation problems, childcare issues (for our students who are parents), economic shortfall, unstable home environments and lack of family support.
Beyond that, some students simply don't respond positively to the format of a more traditional school environment.
A misconception many have is that we have mostly "bad" kids here.
My response to that statement is that we basically have very few, if any, "bad" kids here.
Some of our students have made some bad choices and some of them have been participants in bad decisions made by others.
By and large, though, our student population consists of good people who have had bad circumstances interfere with their educational process.
We have had students leave us with GED certificates or diplomas and move on to either meaningful jobs or advanced education.
SMC is an extremely productive goal for many of our graduates as are our state universities and trade schools.
Those of us who work in our Pathfinders program feel strongly about the work we do and appreciate the efforts of our students who become successful while here.
In that light, let me share "The Starfish Story" with you.
It's taken from Chicken Soup for the Soul by Jack Canfield:
One morning an older man was walking along a beach and saw a younger man in the distance who appeared to be dancing in the sand.
As the older man got closer he saw that the young man was not dancing but was picking up starfish after starfish from the beach and throwing them back into the sea.
As the older man came upon the younger man he asked him, "Young man, what are you doing?"
The young man turned to the older man and said, "Well, you see, the sun is up and the tide is out and if these starfish do not get back into the sea they will die."
"But young fellow," the older man said, "Look ahead of you. There are miles and miles of beach and thousands of starfish. You can't possibly make a difference."
The young man looked at the older man and then looked at the starfish in his hand.
He gently tossed the starfish into the sea and then turned to the older man and said, "Well, sir, I made a difference to that one."
We at Pathfinders try to "make a difference."
Can we make a difference for each person involved in our programs?
No, probably not, realistically.
However, if each of our staff members positively influences individual students over time, we create our own starfish stories.
I think our AFLAC representative left here earlier this week believing that.
If we can possibly help you or anyone you know, let us know.
Applications for our program are available at our building at 501 N. Paul St. (on the curve across from Union High School). You may also receive further information by calling (269) 782-4471.