TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTWO/WAWV) — A local organization is giving adults a new chance at earning a high school diploma.
The Goodwill Excel Center now has over 150 students enrolled. As that number increases, they will move into a new space that is nearly double the 8,000 square feet they have now in the lower level of the Meadows Shopping Center. Director Carl Conwell says they will also have eight classrooms instead of four.
“Along with a lot of amenities we don’t have right now,” Conwell said. “We’ll have a full-fledged computer lab, we’ll have a lobby and a sitting are for the students to be in. We’ll have a 1,000 square foot drop-in center for children of our students to be in, so we’re really looking forward to that and excited about what that’s going to bring for us.”
Thomas Sebring, a student at the Excel Center, says the teachers are great and it has given him a second family along the way.
“The Excel Center is a great opportunity for people,” Sebring said. “It helps you get where you need to go, they’ll give you a bike if you don’t have a way to get here. They’ll give you a bus pass if you don’t have a way to get here. They’ll feed you, we have a food pantry, anything like that.”
Conwell says this comradery now goes beyond just the classroom, as students participate in extracurricular activities as well.
“We have a student council now, and they all had to give speeches,” Conwell said. “Some of the speeches were very inspiring as to the way the Excel Center has changed their lives already. We’re only four months in, so we’re only looking up from here and it’s been super exciting.”
Those at the Excel Center say they expect to move into their new space on the main floor of the Meadows by mid February. For more information on the Excel Center, click here.
