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By LYNN PETTIGREW NORRIS

Finishing high school is not easy - especially if you are an adult. The ECCELL Program is an adult high school completion program where adults over the age of 18 whose class has graduated may finish the requirements for a diploma. ECCELL began as a pilot program at the Mental Health Association of South Central Kansas in Wichita in 2001.

Finishing high school is not easy when you have been out of school for many years. Just walking in to enroll can be intimidating. Sometimes students bring with them complicated lives and should be admired for working on a worthy goal. Question to a local student: "How did you hear about the ECCELL Program?" Answer - "I drove by ECCELL each day on my way to work, but it took me nearly three years to gather up enough courage to walk in the door."

Imagine having a pretty good job and your co-workers never suspect that you have not completed a high school diploma. Some students feel humbled to reveal that they are working on a high school diploma while others are very proud of this goal and tell everyone.

Recently an Oxford student who was grew up in Ark City allowed us to interview him. Don Wiggley has proudly completed the requirements for graduation. He plans to enroll at Cowley College this fall. Wiggley is in his mid-50s. He says his life has found new meaning through meeting his goal of finishing high school - the one thing that was holding him back from other goals in his life.

It is very rewarding to pass former ECCELL students on the street and have them tell you they have completed nursing school or they are now attending college at Cowley or that they have started their own business. One lady told me some time ago, "Thank you, thank you! You (ECCELL) changed my life. I would have never worked on my goal of attending college and am now about to graduate from college. You helped me realize that I can do whatever I set my heart and mind on doing."

Adults may work on lessons at home over the Internet, or they may come into one of the ECCELL centers. Forty local adults have graduated from ECCELL and several others will graduate this May. To enroll, call (620) 438-3333. Or 1-888-296-5146. Or visit: www.freewebs.com/eccrc/index.htm

Pettigrew Norris is the ECCELL facilitator.