Excel Center graduate says they 'stick by you and believe in you'

Erik Hackman, The Evening News and the Tribune, Jeffersonville, Ind.
·3 min read

Jun. 29—CLARKSVILLE — America Castaneda is a young mother who will graduate from the Excel Center this Friday and has been selected to be the speaker at commencement.

The Excel Center is a tuition-free high school for adult learners and older youth. Those enrolled are eligible to earn a Core 40 high school diploma and can earn scholarships through the program.

This year, The Excel Center 1329 Applegate Lane, Clarksville, expects 54 graduates at commencement.

The center also offers dual-credit courses and industry-recognized certifications for their students to earn.

"It's all done primarily in-house and through external partnerships in the community," said Jennifer Wade, Director of Marketing and Communications at Goodwill of Central & Southern Indiana, which operates the center.

"Once that diploma is earned, our students are set up on the path to success where they can either pursue a four-year college education or they can enter the work force with a credential."

When students are enrolled in the program, they are assigned a life coach. The coach's main priority is to ensure that all of the barriers both inside and outside of the classroom are removed so the student has a clear pathway to success, Wade said.

The center also helps students get to the building by offering gas cards to them and helps them get jobs while they are enrolled.

Castaneda joined the school last August and was uncertain about sticking with the program and finishing.

"The first few weeks of being here when I first signed up, I was not a fan," Castaneda said. "I felt that this place just wasn't for me and I didn't take it seriously."

She skipped several days because she was uncertain about continuing and finishing.

That is when Castaneda's life coach reached out to her constantly to motivate her to come back to the school.

"They would non-stop call me and be like 'How are you? Are you coming to class?'" Castaneda said. "I came into school and I had talked to one of my life coaches, and they were telling me how they're not going to give up on you."

Castaneda said that her life coach was telling her that she might say she would not return next term, but she would return.

After that talk with her life coach, Castaneda learned that the school was there for her and to help her get her high school diploma.

"I just thought that they were more of 'we're just going to give them a chance, let them come in and if they don't want it, they don't want it,'" Castaneda said. "They really stick by you and they believe in you."

Once she decided to stay in the school, she was able to get her high school diploma in two terms.

Now that she has graduated, Castaneda is working on going to college at Indiana University Southeast to get her degree in education. While growing up she wanted to be a lawyer but changed her mind after going through The Excel Center.

"I come here (The Excel Center) to help out or just to see the teachers. My heart pretty much belongs to this place," Castaneda said. "I kind of got into the habit of wanting to be a teacher... I changed my major to elementary education and a minor in psychology."