Jan 05, 2018 4:38 pm
When Jean-Sebastian Le Jeune was only 13 years old, he was pulled out of school to help take care of family obligations. When he attempted to begin homeschooling to finish high school, he struggled more than he could have imagined. The stress and difficulty involved in earning his diploma only grew from there. “Life happened,” he admitted. “I just couldn’t get back to it, and I felt like pursuing my GED would only prove the fact that I was a failure. If I didn’t pass the test, it would only prove that I couldn’t measure up.”
Le Jeune, 40, hadn’t been in school for more than 20 years when he entered the Pierce College Adult Diploma (PCAD) program in 2015. “I feel like enrolling in the PCAD program was the best decision I had ever made in my adult life,” he said. “For most people, earning a high school diploma is something you do as a kid. I have nieces and nephews who look up to me now, and it’s hard to tell them that getting an education is important, when I haven’t followed through with my own education.”
He spent years feeling as though he wasn’t on the same level as others who followed a more traditional educational path. For years, he worked a number of jobs in construction, but never really used computers in any of his positions. He felt like he was behind the curve in an increasingly tech-savvy world. “The idea of going back to school was really intimidating at first,” he said. “But there were people from so many different walks of life in the program, and we were able to work together and support each other throughout the year. I finally started to feel like I could go further in life, and be successful.”
During his final quarter of the program, Le Jeune and his classmates enrolled in college-level courses, proving they can be successful in college. “In the beginning, I didn’t think I was ready for college, but this program showed me that I could do it,” he said. “It made me realize that I was just another college kid, regardless of my age. It’s been one of the best experiences I’ve ever had.”
Thanks to the confidence he gained in the Pierce College Adult Diploma program, Le Jeune plans to pursue a transfer degree in Kinesiology and continue on to earn his bachelor’s.