Career Learning Center seeing a demand for its services

“I do like the fact that there’s not a lot of kids around,” said Giles, 18, who moved to Rapid City from Arizona. “There’s quiet, and it’s a very peaceful environment to be in.”

A space ripe not only for career preparation but also for careful reflection is something staff members at the Career Learning Center are working hard to craft. They’re well aware that students who come to them need to find sustainable work, but a large part of that task – as they describe it – is finding a place where they can learn and develop strong human connections.

The Career Learning Center is part of the Black Hills Special Services Cooperative, which offers in-person adult education classes in Belle Fourche, Spearfish, Sturgis, Rapid City and Custer and distance learning throughout the western part of the state. In Rapid City, students go to the center at 730 E. Watertown St.

Giles is one of more than 300 students who have enrolled in adult education each year for the past several years at the Career Learning Center. The vast majority are preparing to earn their GED diplomas at the center. Factors such as travel and the pandemic may have interrupted their regular high school careers, or they may now find themselves in a situation in which they need a GED diploma – a high school equivalency diploma – to compete for a job.

Among the adult education students are about 15 students each year who study English as a foreign language.

Gloria Pluimer is the director of education and workforce development for the Black Hills Special Services Cooperative. She also serves as director of the Career Learning Center, which is part of the cooperative. She said she’s been working for BHSSC for 30 years, including 25 in Rapid City, and she’s noticed growing demand for services in recent years.

“The needs of the individuals seem to have increased,” she said. “Over 90% of our students self-identify as being low-income. That has increased over the years.”

She also mentioned challenges involving housing, transportation and child care.

“We’ve seen a significant increase in alcohol and drug usage, which has impacted many of the students we’ve served,” she added. “And we’ve seen an increase in younger students, especially with the onset of COVID.”

Pluimer said funding for the center comes from the U.S. Department of Education through the South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation. The Black Hills Special Services Cooperative competes for grants to secure funding from the Department of Labor and Regulation.

Pluimer said services are free to students, but they do have to pay for the tests, at $37.50 for each of the four subject-area tests. She said various kinds of scholarships, along with financial assistance from the South Dakota Department of Labor and Regulation, may help with the costs.

Stephenie Rittberger, adult education coordinator at the Career Learning Center, emphasized the importance of helping students to prepare for careers, but also to cultivate their interests.

“We need to encourage some of their strengths in different ways because obviously something derailed their traditional education,” she said. “So we want to fill that gap in a way that’s really meaningful for them – meaningful in practical ways, but also meaningful in having self-fulfilled lives, too.”

Rittberger noted that students often come into the center already working or aiming for work that’s been done in their families.

“A lot of the students here are very connected to what their family members have done in the past,” she said. “Or they’re very connected to something that they know or they’ve seen, but they might not consider other things that they really love.”

Rittberger said she might explore career possibilities after students have taken the first of four tests leading to a GED diploma and she’s begun to get to know them.

“As we get to know them in that first test, we’re kind of looking at, ‘Where do you think you want to be?’ and ‘Is that going to support you at the level that you believe you want to live at?’”

Rittberger said students also come in excited about a prospective career. Parker Asbjeld described his interest in mechanical work in those sorts of terms. He said he’s been around it his whole life and – even though he’s only 19 – he’s worked on building cars for some time.

“I started to build cars for fun,” Asbjeld said, and then he explained how he feels when he’s doing the work.

“Did you ever have that feeling when you’re doing something and you just know it’s something you want to do?” he asked. “That’s just how it is. It just feels right whenever I’m working on a car.”

The GED diploma may help Asbjeld move forward in the field of diesel technology.

Rittberger said she introduces students to scholarship opportunities – such as Build Dakota Scholarships – that may provide support to students.

“You’re looking at a lot of first-generation college attendees,” she said. “So not only do we have to help them understand what college is going to be like at a commitment level, but we also have to help them start to look at a budget and how to apply for financial aid.”

Some students, she said, might pursue further education immediately after the GED, and others might return and begin to prepare later. She stressed the need to lay solid financial groundwork.

“I want students to know that every possibility is out there for them,” she said, also noting that “inclusion and equity are different things.” Access to broadband and finances for books, for instance, can provide challenges.

As students talked about the preparation they’re doing, they seemed especially to value some autonomy in carving their paths.

“Once you’ve understood a subject and you take the test and you’re done with it, you’re not forced to sit in a class for the rest of the school year,” said Alex Darga, 18.

Darga said he enjoyed studying social studies, and he described his approach.

“You’ve got a few teachers in the room who are very knowledgeable, and you can go to them,” he said. “You can always do quick google searches. There are good ways to do it. The teachers here are good at explaining things really well.”

Giles also noted academic interests that stretch beyond his GED preparation. He said, for instance, that he likes to write in his spare time.

“I like to write my own stuff when I’m at my house,” he said, noting that he explores his past experiences.

After the GED, he plans to talk with a military recruiter.

Pluimer and Rittberger said the center receives support from partnerships with 88 community-based organizations in the area, as well as from donations. That kind of support may help students with obstacles such as transportation and child care – though child care has proven to be an especially difficult obstacle lately. Pluimer and Rittberger also noted support from the South Dakota Department of Labor.

Pluimer noted steps people in the community can take to help students coming back to school. She suggested, for instance, that it’s helpful when employers support employees preparing for the GED with some scheduling flexibility.

She mentioned other ways people can help, as well.

“There are so many individuals who don’t have a high school diploma that we’re not serving,” Rittberger said. “We would love for the community to make those referrals.”

People seeking information about the Career Learning Center of the Black Hills can call 605-394-5120 or visit https://clcbh.org/.