Arthur Green from ChatterBlast Media on Vimeo.

Arthur Green

Project U-Turn Ambassador

My name is Arthur, and I left school in 10th grade when I was 17 years old. I’d like to say that my circumstances surrounding why I left are unique, but the truth is that I recognize how many others face the same challenges that I faced. I want you to know that I didn’t just wake up one random day and decide I didn’t want to finish school. Rather, it had been a number of different things that added up over time.

You see, before I came to the decision that I couldn’t finish high school, I had already been shuffled around to seven or eight different schools. I was in foster care, and things were tough for me in my life outside of the classroom. The constant moving, coupled with my personal challenges at home, led me to make choices that got me removed from classes and eventually removed from a really good high school.

Sometimes when I moved from one school to the next, my credits wouldn’t transfer. As a result, my grades had dropped, and I wasn’t passing some of my classes, which held me back. I found myself in a classroom with students who were younger than me, and I began to feel uncomfortable, feeling way older than some of my classmates. I finally decided that school just wasn’t for me. I had lost all of my self-esteem and left.

One day on the subway, I saw a poster for a program that would help me get my GED and a job. After some consideration, I signed up and got the support that I needed. During my time there, I had a lot of ups and downs and personal issues that interfered, but the staff did not give up on me. They wanted me to excel. I finally completed all four exams and received my GED within one year.

Kal-el Anderson

GED to College Graduate

Kal-el Anderson, a graduate of the Training Fund's GED to College Success Program, graduated from Manor College in Spring 2015 with an Associate's Degree in Arts and Science, with a Paralegal Concentration. He was a member of Manor's Alpha Beta Gamma Honors Society for business students with a GPA of 3.0 higher.

Kal-el has been accepted to La Salle University in Philadelphia,  where he will study Marketing & Business Administration, with a minor in Political Science. After La Salle, he plans to attend law school.

At his graduation, Kal-el explained, "This could not have happened without the Training Fund and the love and support I received while I was a student there, and whenever I came to visit."

"I have seen a huge change in this young man since the first time he walked through the Training Fund doors," said Nia Eubanks-Dixon, the Fund's Youth Programs Coordinator. "He has a great future ahead of him."