(By Sheri Trusty, Seneca County Sheriff’s Office Public Relations Coordinator)

Many inmates in the Seneca County Jail have taken advantage of the opportunity to take GED classes offered through a partnership between the Seneca County Sheriff’s Office and the Vanguard-Sentinel Aspire Program. Now, qualifying inmates can also attend Aspire’s college prep courses. Aspire is a grant-funded program that offers free GED, college prep, and career prep courses for the general public, and it offers GED programs in several local jails.

But the Seneca County Jail is the only correctional facility, in our area, that offers the Aspire college prep program for inmates.

The pilot program was inspired when an inmate asked Seneca County Jail Case Manager, Grace Morehart, if there was a way to take college prep courses while he was in jail. Morehart is always looking for new ways to help inmates succeed post-incarceration, so she talked with Aspire staff, and a pilot program was implemented at the Seneca County Jail.

Inspire instructor Chad Kaiser teaches GED and college prep courses two times a week at the Seneca County Jail. The college prep courses are unaccredited but help the inmates expand their knowledge and prepare for post-incarceration educational pursuits. Morehart said inmates must have taken the SAT or ACT prior to incarceration to qualify for the college prep classes.

Kaiser tailors the classes to the group’s needs and creates an atmosphere that inspires his students.

“They take assessments, and we start where they’re at. I include all learning styles, whether they are visual learners or auditory learners,” Kaiser said. “We have discussions. I’m not just up there giving lectures.”

Kaiser’s teaching style is working extraordinarily well. Assessments identify Measurable Skill Gains (MSG), and one student jumped an MSG level in just six weeks. The inmates are grateful for the opportunity to improve their lives.

“Grace does a great job bringing different opportunities to us here,” one inmate said.

One inmate plans to continue pursuing Chemical Dependency Counselor Assistant (CDCA) certification, so he is studying human behavior courses.

“This definitely helps me,” he said. “Grace and Chad go the extra mile to help me find the materials I need.”

One student said the classes help give structure to his week, and another said the classes are helping him refresh skills he hasn’t used since high school.

“I’m taking these classes to acquire knowledge every day,” one inmate said. “Hopefully, I’ll wake up with a desire to keep seeking knowledge after I get out of jail.”

Aspire will begin offering GED and college prep classes to the general public at Sentinel Career & Technology Center in Tiffin on Dec. 2. The classes are free. For more information, call the Aspire office 419-334-6901, ext. 4701, or visit https://www.vscc.k12.oh.us/adult-ed/aspire/.