Photo by Janet Sutton / Neuse News

By Janet Sutton

Lenoir Community College hosted a pop-up block party Wednesday at Lovit Hines Community Center on King Street to announce their educational partnership with the Kinston-Lenoir County Parks and Recreation Department.

Through the program, HSE classes, formerly known as GED [general education development] are available all year long. In order to take classes, all a person needs is their identification and simply fill out a registration form. Classes are held Monday through Friday, from 9 am to 1 pm and  HRD, Human Resources Development, classes vary by schedule. The HRD classes will cover topics such as resume writing, workplace skills, soft skills and interview skills to prepare job seekers for the workplace.

To kick-off the celebration, attendees were treated to free hair cuts by the LCC Greene County Barber School, food, games and entertainment as they learned about programs offered at the center.

Heather Collins, Director of Transitioning and Career Studies at Lenoir Community College, wants to reach as many residents as possible and bring attention to this free and valuable resource.

"It is my hope that the community will realize, number one that, LCC is here for the community, that we are invested in helping to make a difference, we're invested in educating and we understand that transportation may be an issue and so to remove any barrier we're bringing classes to them," Collins said. "I want them to know that it's never too late, it doesn't matter if you're 20, if you're 35, if you're 45, I think my oldest student right now is 67,” she said. “You can come back, you can finish, you can learn and you can succeed and LCC is here to help you do just that.”

One resident who's giving their education another chance is 30-year-old Dereck Williams, he began taking HSE classes at Lovit Hines about three weeks ago. He’s appreciative of the convenience. Williams used to walk to LCC in previous years and transportation issues eventually led him to stop attending class. With classes close to his home, he has one less hurdle in front of him.

“It's great, all I have to do is get up and walk two blocks to my GED class and walk two blocks home," Williams said. "You can't beat that."

He thinks everything is going perfect so far.

"Every morning I leave from here, I feel like I'm productive. I just leave here happy just because I got up and did something," he said.

Clarence Cooley, assistant director of Lovit Hines Community Center, went through the Lenoir Community College GED class about five years ago. He started working at the center last August and usually sees about 12 children in the afterschool program and about six people in the GED class. He encourages anyone interested in taking a class to just do it. 

"You come to the center, let us know what your struggle is and we see where we can fit in to help so you can succeed," Cooley said. "Opportunities are here and people are here that care. LCC got you, Parks and Recreation we got you, all you got to do is let us know what the need is and we try to fit the need," he said.