www.poarchcreekindians-nsn.gov
Poarch Creek News
www.poarchcreekindians-nsn.gov
April 2010
20
GED News and Success Stories
Submitted by Billie McGhee, Education Coordinator
One of the missions of the PCI Education Department’s
Adult Education Program is to assist adults and high school
dropouts with obtaining their GED (General Education
Development) Certicates. A person with a GED Certicate
is eligible to attend community colleges/vocational schools
and most universities.
In the past two years, our Adult Education program has
experienced an increase in the number of requests for assistance
in obtaining GEDs. We are happy to say our participants who
are determined are passing their tests. You should see the
happy smiles and the newfound condence that we see when
students bring in their GED scores to show us. One person is
still walking around with a smile on his face even though he
took the test several months ago. A Tribal Member’s spouse
once asked for help in obtaining his GED. He is a successful
businessman and is in his 70’s. He told us that he had always
wanted to complete his education. He passed the GED Pretest
on his rst attempt and is now preparing to take the last section
of his GED Test. We have worked with other Tribal Member’s
spouses by tutoring them until they are ready to take the GED
Test. All have passed their GED Tests and most of them are
now working for the Tribe. Members of the community have
also called expressing a wish for one of their family members
to receive tutoring for GED testing. We can not pay for their
tests, but we do allow them to sit in with our students if our
classes are not full.
Our policy is to have the GED student take a GED Pretest
and if the student passes the Pretest, we will arrange for
the students to take the test and we will pay the test fees
for the Tribal Member and First Generation students. The
GED Instructor is Ms. Julie McDonald. Julie is a teacher at
Rachel Patterson Elementary School and is very patient with
our students which helps encourage them to continue their
studies. We can provide one-on-one tutoring during the day
or on Tuesday and Wednesday nights. Our students attend
according to their work schedules and if they are serious
about passing their GED Test, it will happen. When a student
graduates, the entire Education staff is ready with praise.
Doors to employment are now open to the graduates and they
feel more condent about their abilities. The stigma of not
having a high school education no longer holds them back.
GED applicants do not have to take all ve sections of the
GED test in one day. We have learned that some people do
better when they take parts of the test one day and nish the
rest on another day. A few have succeeded by taking one test
at a time. Everyone has different learning styles and abilities,
therefore, we try to adapt to each student’s abilities in order to
help them succeed.
We have arranged for those who have reading comprehension
problems, attention decit disorder, or other learning
problems, to obtain special GED accommodations. These
accommodations allow a student to take the test in a quiet
environment, to have extended time, or to listen to the test on
audio tapes if needed.
Tribal Clinical Psychologist, Dr. Blaine Crum, has arranged
for Tribal Members with special needs to be tested. He
recommends the type of accommodations someone will need
to pass the GED test. These accommodations can contribute
greatly toward someone’s success in passing the GED.
Several Tribal Members will be taking the GED test soon.
They are required to have their GED Certicates to keep their
jobs at the Casino, but they could not take the test until the
audio tapes they needed for the test arrived at the community
colleges where they would take the test. Their supervisor
at the Casino was aware of this and continued to work with
them and check on their progress. The tapes nally arrived in
December and so far, their scores are high on the parts of the
tests they have completed.
Mrs. Carolyn Woods, Test Coordinator at Jefferson Davis
Community College and Mrs. Leila Emmanuel, Test
Coordinator at Faulkner State Community College have been
very helpful to our program by setting up test dates, sending off
the GED accommodation paperwork to the state GED Ofce
and providing for the accommodation needs. The Faulkner
State Community College has a larger campus and has been
able to provide more provisions for Adult students who need
accommodations and they offer the test four times during
the month at Bay Minette. Mrs. Woods and Mrs. Emmanuel
have been very helpful to our test takers, even encouraging
those who don’t have faith in their abilities, to either stay and
complete the tests or to reschedule as needed after consulting
with us to nd out what will work best.
The Tribal Council awarded the Education Department with
funding to hire a qualied reading teacher for a Reading Class
that will help Tribal Members improve their comprehension
skills, improve their vocabulary, and help with basic reading
if needed. The schedule and curriculum for the Reading
Class is still being organized and we will notify you when
the schedule has been established. We have found a refresher
course in reading comprehension and vocabulary skills that
has helped our GED students succeed and feel this program,
and some recently order phonics programs, will be benecial
to the Reading Class. Ms. McDonald, our GED Instructor,
will teach the Reading Class. If a Tribal Member wants
help with their reading during the workday, we can provide
tutoring. Please contact us at (251) 368-9136, ext. 2243, if
you are interested in joining the class. If you know of anyone
who may benet from the Reading Class, be sure to tell them
about it and encourage them to participate.
Education
News & Information
It’s important everyone participate with the Census 2010
effort. That point was made clear during the 2010 Census
Portrait of America Road Tour Monday morning on the
Poarch Creek Indian Reservation. The tour came to the
Atmore area to encourage members of the community and
the Tribe to complete and return the census questionnaire.
“Completing the census information is important for funding
of education, healthcare and roads,” Edie Jackson said.
“There are 10 questions on the form, and it’s safe.”
The road tour stopped on the PCI Reservation to encourage
Tribal Members to participate in the census. Tribal Member
Eddie Tullis shared some of history of the difculties tribes
have had over the years being represented in the census.
“It’s a fact that today’s event is a dramatic change from the
census in 1960,” Tullis said. “There was no Indian outreach.”
According to Tullis, Native Americans were allowed to
“sit” in the room while the Census Minority Committee
met in 1970, and then in 1980, four Native Americans were
appointed to the Minority Committee.
”After 1980, the census started putting out counts on Indian,
but it was a mess,” he said. “They didn’t say what kind of
Indian you were.” Tullis said that improved some in the
1990 census when the Indian population was enumerated by
reservation; however, the census breakdown only considered
the rst word written on the census form. It didn’t distinguish
between Poarch Creek and Poarch Navaho.
In later census efforts, American Indians were enumerated
by the entire name written on the form. “It’s critical Tribal
Members write, “Poarch Creek” on the census forms,” he
said. “Our tribal council needs a good count of our population
for securing resources coming to the Tribe.”
For those living on the Poarch Creek Reservation, a census
representative will come to their home to help complete the
questionnaire. If a tribal member has questions, they can
contact the ofce of Tribal Member Benets. The census
forms will be mailed on March 15th. Census representatives
will be on the Reservation beginning March 29th going
door-to-door.
Beryl Angelus, Census Ofce Manager in Montgomery,
said they plan to be nished with the census on the PCI
Reservation by Census Day which is April 1. Deborah Hinote,
a PCI Tribal Member, was present for Monday’s event. She
serves at the Partnership Specialist for tribes in the Georgia,
Alabama and Florida region. “I’m very connected here,”
she said. “My mother lived on the Reservation, and I’m very
pleased to get this job and work with my people. I feel I can
be a voice for our people.” Hinote reminded everyone of the
importance of participating with Census workers.
When completing your census form, be sure to identify
yourself as Poarch Creek Indian!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Portrait of America Road Tour Stops at Poarch
by Ryan Carter, Atmore News
Article & photo reprinted with permission from Atmore News
Cover Photo by Gayle Johnson, Media Specialist
If you could impact the future of your community and people in a few,
short minutes, what would you do? Spend a few minutes teaching a
child something new, caring for elders, visiting with your family?
You can make a difference in your community by participating in the
2010 Census – and it will only take a few minutes. The census is a
count of everyone in the United States, including people of all ages,
races and ethnic groups. By participating in the 2010 Census, Poarch
Creek Indians can use their voice to tell people who they are and what
their communities need. It’s important that everyone participate in the
census, because census data are used to determine representation at all
levels of government as well as determine essential community services
for your area, your family and your future, including:
• The need for health care facilities and nursing homes
• Development of roads
• Determination of new schools and housing options