KERSHAW COUNTY, S.C. — The Kershaw County Detention Center has its first-ever group of students, who have graduated with a GED. The students walked the stage Tuesday.
"Men that are walking around with the ability to get a GED that number one never got a diploma and now they have one," said Weyland Burns, Director of Kershaw County Adult Education.
The initiative that began back in November, a year before the Director of the Detention Center approached the Kershaw County Adult Education Center, they then worked together to find funds to launch the program.
Burns said there is a process to get the students in the program. First they are screened to see if they can handle the workload and if they will be disciplined enough. "Then, we give them a pre-test, a taped test, a pre-test to the GED ... we test and we have a limitation of about five or six students."
Burns said the students are those either with a charge or a sentence.
One student spoke about the decision to take on the course.
"At thirty, I never would have thought I'd be achieving my GED, but it feels good, something to do with my time spent here," he said. "I hate wasting time staring at a wall, it's pointless. And as soon as the opportunity to sign up for the class, I came and signed up, and I was the first one there."
The man said he wants "more for myself, to have the variety of job opportunities, and maybe go to college and better myself."
Burns hopes the student will recognize their potential. "Some of these students, they just don't know how smart they are."