Chantal Stone worked in the restaurant and bar industry from the age of sixteen, never attending high school. At 44, she decided she needed a plan for her retirement and enrolled at the Barrie Learning Centre where she learned about the dual credit program at Georgian College.
“I had never even visited a college, much less attend one,” Chantal says. “The closest I got was when I would drop off my friends”.
Chantal had to jump into the deep end, studying Ethics and Issues in a college classroom that mixed adult students with adolescents. With no computer program experience, the situation became more challenging when dual credit courses moved to remote learning just five weeks into the semester.
“In spite of this, Chantal attended every WebEx session, contributed to Blackboard discussion boards, and even completed two exams on Blackboard,” says her instructor, Alexa Farley proudly. “In addition, Chantal created Flipgrid videos for assignments online and participated in class Kahoot study games, earning 84% in the course”.
Though Chantal is at the beginning of her journey to gain her high school diploma, she is feeling more confident about her future, hoping to gain a college diploma by her 50th birthday.
“I want to work with animals. I think I will attend the Vet Tech program at Georgian. Going to the Barrie Learning Centre and then taking this course – it has changed my world,” she says. “I have a whole new plan, a whole new path. I started with the idea of a retirement plan and now I have a life plan”.
