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The post Now accepting applications for The Excel Center appeared first on Goodwill Excel Center MD.

He thought she meant college. But she explained that she was graduating from the Excel Center.

That encounter inspired him to look into the Excel Center himself. He called for information the next day and quickly became an Excel Center student.

Baltimore will have the newest Excel Center in the nation when it opens this September downtown. Baltimore residents 21 years of age and older will be able to earn a free high school diploma, while having access to on-site child care and transportation assistance.

An estimated 80,000 Baltimore area adults don’t have a high school diploma. Not having a diploma severely limits a person’s income potential, job opportunities and the ability to build a better life. The Excel Center is an attempt by Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake to change that.

The Excel Center provides a flexible and accelerated high school education. But the actual length of the experience varies for each student, based on how many high school credits they had already earned before beginning the program.

• A student starting with no credits, but taking Excel Center classes full-time, could obtain their high school diploma in two years.
• However, data from the other Excel Centers shows that it takes a student, on average, three years to obtain all of the credits needed for their high school diploma.

Edward especially liked that Excel Center classes had both younger and older students, with different generations learning together.

Edward had dropped out of high school as a teenager because he experienced a lot of bullying, was getting into a lot of fights, and then got involved in street life and taking drugs.

“I was trying to find myself,” said Edward, “because I went through a lot of issues growing up.”

Now, all these years after turning his life around, he describes the Excel Center as “God sent,” because of how the program is structured as a condensed high school education. He said the real difference in the learning experience for him was “how they broke it down in that time to make you feel like you can do this, you got this.”

Life threatened to interrupt his education yet again when Edward was diagnosed with cancer shortly after starting his Excel Center classes. He had to go back and forth for treatments but appreciated that his Excel Center teachers were so understanding.

“One of my greatest experiences was when I announced that I had to start chemo,” said Edward. “The doctor said it was a life sentence. But when I talked with my classmates about it, they immediately got up and started hugging me and embracing me, and that is one moment that I will never forget. Even my teachers came in and they were crying. But I’m here to say, I beat it.”

Edward feels he got more than just an education — he got vital emotional support at a very difficult time in his life. He said words like “wow, amazing, and great” cannot really express the love and support he felt from everyone at the Excel Center.

When he graduated with his diploma from the Excel Center in Washington, D.C., he expressed his gratitude to all the teachers and staff. Most of all, he said, he was grateful for the compassion they showed “for us that dropped out and had to come back almost 30 years later to complete [high school]. You all did not give up on us.”

Listen to Edward share his Excel Center story on YouTube.

Learn more about the Baltimore Excel Center today.

The post Success Story: Edward Dyson Got More Than an Education at Excel Center appeared first on Goodwill Excel Center MD.

The post The Excel Center is Hiring! appeared first on Goodwill Excel Center MD.

To make sure the Excel Center is ready to accommodate them, Goodwill is hiring multiple Spanish/English bilingual education professionals to fill important roles. Not every math, special ed, english, social studies, science teacher will be bilingual, but Goodwill is working to hire a sufficient number of staff members specifically to serve the Excel Center’s diverse student body.

Other Excel Center positions for which Goodwill is recruiting bilingual employees include a Manager of Office Administration, life coaches, a school registrar, and an IT technician. (¿Hablas español? Visit careers.goodwillches.org.)

Here’s an overview of available positions:

• Manager of Office Administration: If you’re someone with a knack for organizing, coordinating office operations and procedures, and efficiently managing resources, this might be the perfect fit for you. The role comes with a starting salary of $46,000 per year.
• Life Coaches: A role dedicated to promoting student engagement, and assisting with barrier removal to support student success. As a Life Coach, you will be entrusted to handle a typical caseload of 60-80 adult students. The starting salary for this position is $42,000 per year.
• Subject Instructors: We’re hiring instructors for various subjects, including Math, Special Ed, English, Social Studies, and Science. The primary responsibility is the implementation and development of The Excel Center curriculum, catering to small class sizes of adult learners. Notably, no direct instruction is required on Fridays. The starting salary for instructors is $51,272 per year.
• School Registrar: The ideal candidate for this role will be responsible for all student academic record-keeping, including compiling, maintaining, and tracking student academic information and records. The starting salary for this role is $50,000 per year.
• IT Technician Excel Center: With a broad responsibility to maintain the IT environment for the school, this role involves managing student technology, troubleshooting software issues, and maintaining the Office 365 environment. The starting salary for an IT Technician at the Excel Center is $56,494 per year.

For those unfamiliar with the Excel Center, it is a tuition-free school helping working adults and parents get their Maryland high school diploma, then assisting them to secure and retain employment. Graduates will be able to go on to higher education or vocational training so they can earn a better living.

More than 80,000 Baltimore area adults don’t have a high school diploma. Without a diploma, income potential, job opportunities and the ability to build a better life are severely limited. (Research shows that Baltimoreans without a high school diploma earn an estimated $7,000 less per year than high school grads.) Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake decided to help solve that problem by launching the Excel Center.

The Excel Center has attracted overwhelming demand for adult education in Baltimore, with more than 700 inquiries already. The Center is preparing to welcome its first cohort of 150 students on September 25, 2023, offering a total of 30 classes during the school year.

Goodwill modeled Baltimore’s Excel Center after others around the U.S. It’s an approach that has proven successful in Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, and Texas.

For more information about the Baltimore Excel Center, visit https://excelcentermd.org.

The post Baltimore Excel Center Striving to Serve Spanish/English Bilingual Adult Learners appeared first on Goodwill Excel Center MD.

She struggled to get by, and had to keep her family moving from one place to another. She had five kids by the time she was 24.

“I had jobs over the years, but they didn’t make ends meet for us,” said Yolanda.

She almost got hired for a good job at a nearby hospital — until they discovered she had no high school diploma.

“Then something popped in my head saying, ‘I need better’,” Yolanda said.

She ran into a friend who was wearing a graduation cap and gown. The friend told her she was graduating from the Excel Center.

So, Yolanda went to the Excel Center where she lived in Memphis, Tennessee, and got some information.

“It was the best thing that I ever could do,” she said.

Yolanda graduated from the Memphis Excel Center with a GPA of 3.4 at the age of 45.

That’s 28 years after she thought she would never have her diploma — 28 hard years struggling without the education she needed to get a good job.

After graduating from the Excel Center, Yolanda enrolled in a community college where she is working toward an associates degree in criminal justice. Her goal is to keep going to school until she earns her masters degree.

The Excel Center in Baltimore will offer people the same hope and opportunity Yolanda found at the Excel Center in Memphis.

There are 16 Excel Centers around the U.S., with the newest one opening in Baltimore  this September.

The Excel Center is for anyone who thinks life has passed them by. It’s for anyone who had to drop out of high school early, or had other problems that made getting their diploma impossible when they were a teenager.

Like Yolanda discovered in Memphis, the Excel Center is a place to leave the past behind, to make the most of the present, and to build a new future.

Listen to Yolanda talk about her experience on YouTube.

Learn more about the Baltimore Excel Center today.

The post Success Story: A Single Mom Found Her Future Through Goodwill’s Excel Center appeared first on Goodwill Excel Center MD.

As first published in the Baltimore Banner (6-5-23)

Commentary: Goodwill launching high school diploma program in Baltimore

The post Commentary: Goodwill launching high school diploma program in Baltimore appeared first on Goodwill Excel Center MD.

The tuition-free public high school — called the Excel Center — will be run by Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake, and will open at Goodwill’s former headquarters in downtown Baltimore this September.

The application process will open this summer. Initially, Goodwill will recruit 150 students and later will expand to 350 students per session. Learn more and find out how to apply at the Excel Center’s website: https://excelcentermd.org.

Ideal for Working Adults & Parents

The Excel Center will award an actual State of Maryland diploma, not a GED. It’s a streamlined, highly individualized academic program for working adults and parents, and will include:

• Free drop-in childcare
• Transportation assistance
• Flexible class schedules
• Embedded job training

When students get close to graduating, the Excel Center will provide coaching to help them manage work, life and family as they take their next steps toward new opportunities.

• For students who want to go on to college, Goodwill life coaches will help them through the enrollment process.
• For those who prefer to get a job in a particular industry, coaches will help them get post-secondary skills training to pursue their desired career.

Accelerated Program

The Excel Center will use what’s called an “accelerated competency-based high school curriculum” to condense high school down to its essentials: no sports, no prom, no clubs. Just the vital subjects a high school student needs to learn to earn a diploma.

The actual length of the Excel Center experience varies for each student based on how many high school credits a student had already earned before beginning the program.

• A student starting with no credits, but taking Excel Center classes full-time, could obtain their high school diploma in two years.
• However, data from the other Excel Centers shows that it takes a student, on average, three years to obtain all of the credits needed for their high school diploma.

Why a Diploma Matters

An estimated 80,000 Baltimore area adults don’t have a high school diploma. Not having a diploma severely limits a person’s income potential, job opportunities and the ability to build a better life. The Excel Center is an attempt by Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake to change that.

“A high school diploma is a passport to the education and training you need to secure and retain good employment and build an independent life,” said Lisa Rusyniak, President & CEO of Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake.

Proven in Other Cities

Baltimore’s Excel Center is modeled after more than 30 existing Excel Centers around the U.S. Other Goodwill chapters in seven states have opened Excel Centers.

Studies led by the University of Notre Dame show that of the Excel Centers programs’ nearly 10,000 graduates:

• 70% either earned an industry certification or dual college credits
• 40% went on to enroll in college
• 40% saw an increase in employment
• 39% saw an increase in earnings

Learn more about Baltimore’s new Excel Center at https://excelcentermd.org.

The post Free High School for Adults to Open in Baltimore appeared first on Goodwill Excel Center MD.

WBAL TV 11 News and WBAL News Radio featured a great interview with Goodwill Industries of the Chesapeake CEO Lisa Rusyniak, who talked about the impact she expects the Excel Center to have on the lives of Baltimore residents whose lack of a high school diploma made them fall to the wayside in the job market. “When people get jobs, they have an intense sense of dignity,” Rusyniak told reporter Kim Dacey.

WMAR 2 News’s Ryan Dickstein ran a well-written article that also linked to our YouTube video that explains more about The Excel Center. And Fox 45 TV News featured an excellent video-only segment in its News at 5 report.

Lillian Reed wrote a wonderful article in both the The Baltimore Sun and the Capital Gazette, giving readers a deep dive on the Excel Center. The Daily Record likewise offered a thorough article, and the Baltimore Business Journal included a succinct piece in its news roundup section by Carley Milligan.

CityBiz ran an intro piece to the Baltimore Fishbowl article written by Latrice Hill, which included a link to our Excel Center website: ExcelCenterMD.org. And Baltimore Fishbowl also featured our news in an Editor’s Pick item.

The generous coverage by Baltimore media outlets generated inquiries from some 250 local residents about attending the Excel Center (with more coming in daily).

Another great result from all the stories: A number of Baltimore-based organizations have reached out to us asking how they could become a student-referral source or partner. The exposure also garnered interest from potential volunteers.

“We so appreciate the positive news coverage by Baltimore-area media as we realize our dream of building The Excel Center in Baltimore,” said Rusyniak. “This educational resource will change many lives for the better here in our city, and I know we will have a lot more great news yet to come. Stay tuned!”

Even though the Excel Center isn’t slated to open until September, our high profile in the news sparked a number of employment opportunity inquiries. Three positions happen to be open right now: Lead Coach, Lead Teacher, and Career and College Readiness Coach. Watch this blog for a more in-depth post soon about job openings once we begin accepting teacher applications.

The post Excel Center Making Headlines in Baltimore appeared first on Goodwill Excel Center MD.

The Excel Center is a tuition-free, public high school for adults 21 years of age and older. The Excel Center offers flexible class schedules, an accelerated competency-based high school curriculum with embedded job training, coaching designed to help students manage work, life, and family, on-site childcare, transportation assistance, and more!

The CCR Coordinator will build relationships, systems, and programs to ensure that each student at The Excel Center graduates with a realistic career plan that is connected to postsecondary employment and education. The CCR Coordinator will provide direct advising and case management services for students as they near graduation and will be instrumental in the implementation of a comprehensive foundational career-development program, which will allow for intentional advisement of students on academic diploma tracks and enrollment in industry-recognized certification courses and/or in dual-credit course attainment. The CCR Coordinator will develop and maintain an industry–based network of community partners, along with close-knit working relationships with local college and university staff, departments, and enrollment protocol.  The work of the CCR Coordinator is to ensure that our graduates are supported in a viable pathway into a career and/or college placement, prepared with the skills, resources, and support to actualize their postsecondary plan.

EDUCATION AND/OR EXPERIENCE:

• Bachelor’s degree in psychology, human services, education, or related field required; master’s degree preferred.
• Minimum of two years of experience working in a secondary or higher education setting and/or career counseling and workforce development.
• Knowledge of career/vocational theories, career education program development, and community resources and employers required.
• Experience in career pathway development is highly desirable.
• Training in guidance or career/technical education is highly desirable.
• Established network of representatives from business and industry desirable.

Learn more and apply online at careers.goodwillches.org

The post Now Hiring! Career and College Readiness Coordinator appeared first on Goodwill Excel Center MD.

The Excel Center is a tuition-free, public high school for adults 21 years of age and older. The Excel Center offers flexible class schedules, an accelerated competency-based high school curriculum with embedded job training, coaching designed to help students manage work, life, and family, on-site childcare, transportation assistance, and more!

The Lead Coach will promote continued student engagement in The Excel Center. He/she will oversee, manage, train, and evaluate a staff of three life coaches as well as have a caseload of graduates to assist. The incumbent will facilitate the team relationship and meet individually with students to assist in overcoming barriers to each student’s educational progress.

EDUCATION AND/OR EXPERIENCE:

• Bachelor’s degree in subject specialties including psychology, human services, education, or related field required.
• 2 years of experience in mentoring, counseling, and advising required.
• Experience working with high school-age students in a non-traditional setting and/or in an adult education setting is highly preferred.

Learn more and apply online at careers.goodwillches.org

The post Now Hiring! Lead Coach appeared first on Goodwill Excel Center MD.