Success Story - Success Stories

I first met Tresel back in early January 2020 just before the country shut down because of COVID-19. Tresel was a referral from a case worker at the Hesed House which is a homeless shelter where Tresel was staying with his mom Stephanie and little sister Trista. The family had experienced a hardship that left them homeless and without a car which made it difficult for the family to get around. Tresel had expressed in interest with earning his GED credential, but didn’t have a way to getting to our center for GED classroom training. When I mentioned that Central States SER has supportive services available that would pay for customer’s transportation to attend GED training at our center he was elated and eager to start.

Once supportive services were provided and the schedule for PACE services were established Tresel attended GED classroom training as scheduled. Tresel is very shy and doesn’t talk much, but was able to ask questions about the lessons. Tresel was able to complete Reading & Language Arts with Central States SER and took his GED exam on 2/14/2020 where he scored a 162. After passing the R & LA GED exam he then took on Science as his next subject, but was not able to complete as there was a mandatory state wide shutdown to reduce the infection of COVID-19.

In an effort for Tresel to continue with his lessons I offered remote learning where he would have access to online materials and resources to help with his studies in lieu of classroom instruction. Tresel agreed, but did not have a computer to work on his lessons. I then provided Tresel with an Android Tablet and access to i-Pathways where he can continue with studying for the GED exam. Tresel was active and completed all his Science and Social Studies lessons through i-Pathways, but was not able to test for the GED because of the COVID-19 shutdown.

In late August Tresel’s mom decided to relocate to the state of Florida where she had family as she was struggling to find employment and not having a car made it even more challenging. Once Tresel was situated in Ft. Myers, Florida I then began to help Tresel with identifying a WIOA Youth Provider near his home. I reached out to Mrs. Roberts who is the Program Manager at the career center and explained Tresel’s situation and continued interest to pursue his GED goal. With the help of Mrs. Roberts Tresel was able to complete his GED preparation training.

The hard work and determination from Tresel was awarded by earning his High School Diploma on April 5^th 2021, from the Department of Education in the state of Florida. Tresel earned his HS Diploma instead of the GED credential because he scored as follows per subject: R&LA=170, Social Studies=166, Science=167 and Math=156. All scores are GED College Ready scores which earned Tresel his High School Diploma.

Now that Tresel has his High School Diploma he plans to enlist in the US Navy. Central States SER is proud to having been involved with the impact of Tresel’s life and wish him and his family the best of luck. -Jose Zambrano, Program Coordinator for Central States SER in Aurora