Being an adult learner is not a simple thing: when you make that decision to upgrade your skills, life doesn’t stop, and it certainly doesn’t take it easy on you either. There will always be bills to pay, children to feed, family members to deal with and countless other things that get piled on top of the stress of going back to school.
Knowing the day-to-day challenges faced by many of our learners, we wanted to recognize and celebrate their achievements.
We thought long and hard about what qualifies a learner for distinction. Is it perfect attendance? Regular participation? Excellent marks? What distinguishes a learner from the rest?
While those things are wonderful achievements, and things that we also recognize, we realized that we were looking for something else when searching for “Learner of the Year”.
Krystle S., a twenty something learner from Southern Ontario embodies what it means to be Good Learning Anywhere’s “2009-10 Learner of the Year”.
Krystle is a woman who has persevered, who has stood up to challenges, who has supported her peers and led by example. She has taken the skills and teachings of our courses and has forged her own path to success and continual learning.
What better role model can there be?
As GLA’s 2009-2010 Learner of The Year, a surprise package was sent to Krystle in recognition of her achievement.
Here’s what Krystle had to say:
“I got the package the other day that you mentioned would be arriving. You can’t imagine how surprised and thrilled I was to see that I had won an ipod nano and got a certificate too! I was stunned and speechless at first and then really happy!”
“My experiences in SHLC classes have really convinced me that I can do Centra classes and meeting you has helped me realize that there are programs for adults out there and options for us to finish our education. So I really owe both you and SHLC a lot. Please relay my thanks to everyone. I really appreciate the certificate and ipod nano, its a great reminder for me to keep with it. Taking these classes has actually inspired me to go back to school and work on my OSSD.”
“It’s also inspired my dog Tyson to continue with his puppy classes after graduating and starts his next grade level this month! Thanks again, Krystle and Tyson”
Krystle, Tyson, well done!