01/03/2023
Check out Brent’s inspiring story below! Congrats, Brent!!
Happy New Year everyone! Check out adult ed grad Brent Johnson's story below. Let it inspire you to take on tough challenges and reach your goals this year:
“You cannot swim for new horizons until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.”
–William Faulkner
Brent Johnson is a man of faith. Having faith in his ability to earn a diploma, however, took some work.
Like many adult education students, Johnson needed some encouragement to overcome his doubts and enroll in classes. “I came past this [adult education] building a million times,” he says. “And a good friend of mine, Brad Smith, put me over the top. He just kept telling me, ‘Brent, you need to go sign up and get this GED.’ I just really didn’t think I could do it.”
It had been thirty years since his high school days, which he remembers as more fun than fruitful. “Just to be honest, I thought I wanted to be the class clown. It was not that I couldn’t pass. I didn’t want to pass.”
Johnson never finished high school. But what he has lacked in formal learning over the last three decades, he has more than made up for in life learning. He expresses gratitude for many things in his life (“Every day when I wake up, the first thing I say is, ‘Thank you Lord for letting me live another day in your world.’”). He takes things in stride (his advice to a young coworker at the factory where he works: “When someone says something that you don’t agree with, try to just let it simply roll off your back.”).
When he finally made the decision to pursue his high-school-equivalency diploma, however, his confidence in the classroom still suffered. He says his time in adult ed gave him the boost he needed. “It helped me become a better me,” he says. “It showed me that I could do anything in life, with the help of good people such as everyone I have dealt with here at Northeast Mississippi Community College.”
Johnson began to progress through the program, overcoming obstacles and self-doubt with the help of his instructors. “At times, was there frustration? Sure,” he says. “But…due to good people such as [instructors] Ms. Sandy [Gibson], Ms. Karri [Davis]…there was always someone to pick me up.
“When I would go take part of the GED, and I didn’t make it, sure, anybody in their right mind is going to be disappointed. But you know what? All I would say is, ‘Just give me a few minutes to digest it.’ When I would digest what happened, I would say, ‘I’m ready to get back to work. I got to work a little harder.’”
At the heart of Johnson’s determination is his ability to recognize his progress, continually proving to himself that success is possible. In the beginning, as he explains it, “I thought, ‘This will never happen.’ But…each step I would take, it became more real to me. And I got to believing in myself.
“It’s just taught me how to never give up. Because if you’re gonna give up, why start it?”
Armed with renewed confidence and hard-won optimism, Johnson shares with his coworkers the lessons he has learned, in both words and demeanor. “People tell me at work, ‘You sure are happy at six o’clock in the morning. It’s too early in the morning to be happy.’”
“No sir,” he continues. “It’s never too early to be happy.”
“I mean, be positive!” he continues further. “Yes, I have bad days. But…that day is simply what I make of it.”
What advice would Johnson give someone lacking a high school diploma who, as he once did, regularly drives by the adult education building without walking in? “Stop wasting your time and your gasoline. Just walk on in there. I had to swallow my pride. I walked in that front door.”
“I feel like I’ve done a complete turnaround,” he says. “If people ask me, ‘What year was your graduating class?’ I say, ‘’88. I was just thirty-four years behind them.’
“But you know what? I’ve done it.”
Looking to enroll in adult education and move forward with your life? Register here: https://nemcc.formstack.com/forms/22_23_ae_register_now
Read Brent's story on Medium: https://medium.com//it-helped-me-become-a-better-me-9180989900d6
Skill UP Mississippi Northeast Mississippi Community College
