October 2000 
Even Start graduate earns high school diploma By Carol Harvey, Even Start program coordinator
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The Eureka Even Start family literacy program held a graduation celebration on May 19 for Alyssa Bernhardt, the first program participant to complete the requirements for a high school diploma. Alyssa, who dropped out of high school in 1990, has been with the Even Start program since its inception last March. When asked how she had managed to complete her degree after marriage, four children, and many other life challenges, she attributed her success to the Even Start program's goal setting and the support given to her by her family literacy mentor Michelle Faulk. "Michelle helped me set goals and review them frequently, and she kept encouraging me to go to class and finish," said Alyssa. Alyssa also credited the availability of child care through the Even Start program with allowing her to go to school. "I never could have done it if I'd had to pay for child care for two children every day," she said. Her two youngest children, aged nine months and two years, respectively, spent mornings in the Even Start child care room at Jacobs Learning Center while their mom attended classes at Eureka Adult School. Alyssa is moving with her husband and four children to Grass Valley where she plans to enroll in junior college and continue her education. She would like to become a physical therapist some day. The Eureka Even Start program is a partnership between Eureka City Schools, Head Start, and other community agencies. It is designed to help parents and children become better readers and lifelong learners. Families may qualify if they have at least one child between the ages of birth and eight-years-of-age and live on the west side of Eureka. Even Start supports parents in getting a GED or completing their high school diploma, in learning English as a second language, or in increasing their job skills. The program also offers home visits, weekly activities for parents and children, tutoring for school-age children, as well as baby-sitting while parents attend classes. For more information about the Even Start program, call Carol Harvey at 441-3329.
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