Chinese-American woman obtains GED with help from Souderton’s Keystone Opportunity Center

A local Chinese American woman is celebrating a significant achievement after successfully obtaining her GED.

Jinfeng Weng, of North Wales, completed her GED after taking ESL and high school equivalency classes at the Keystone Opportunity Center, a social services agency in Souderton.

“I feel happy and excited,” said Weng. “After that, I feel a little pressure because I still need improvement in grades first before I go to college. I still have a lot of steps to go.”

    Weng obtained her GED in July after over five years and 450 hours in Keystone’s program. (Credit: Keystone Opportunity Center)
  

A Chinese native, Weng immigrated to the United States in 2009. She later married and gave birth to two daughters, who she sent to China to live with extended family members while she worked to save money.

In an effort to better her family’s future, Weng enrolled in Keystone Opportunity Center’s online ESL classes in 2020 before picking up high school equivalency. She also studied at the same time for citizenship and became a U.S. citizen in 2022.

“I haven’t finished high school in China. It’s a pity,” said Weng. “People said, ‘You don’t have a good education background.’ I don’t like that, so I wanted to get a GED done.”

While a student, Weng gave birth to a son. She notes that Keystone’s online classes enabled her to continue working and taking care of the newborn.

“He’s not [an] easy boy to take care of,” said Weng. “He cries a lot. He wakes up many times at night, so it takes me a lot of time. Sometimes I missed class.”

    Keystone Opportunity Center’s online classes enabled Jinfeng Weng to finish her coursework while taking care of her newborn son.
 By John Worthington | The Reporter   

Weng is one of over 500 students enrolled in Keystone’s adult education program. Funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, the program provides free ESL, high school equivalency and college and career English classes as well as civics classes that help prepare students for citizenship. Classes are held at the Trinity Lutheran Church, Plains Mennonite Church and Souderton Mennonite Church.

“In any given year, we have people from probably 40-45 countries and many languages represented,” said Susan Clauser, program director. “We have native speakers as well.”

The program provides flexible schedules to accommodate students’ learning barriers, such as long work hours, family and childcare responsibilities and financial struggles, said Clauser. The high school equivalency course offers 10 in-person classes per week, including morning and evening classes, all of which are livestreamed online.

“We keep that flexible schedule so that our students are able to learn when it is convenient for them,” said Clauser. “And they can switch to a different time if they need to.”

“Sometimes I don’t have a good schedule. I work and cannot attend,” added Weng, “But they have [classes on] Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. They have so many times for us to choose.”

In addition to flexible schedules, the program helps students address learning barriers by connecting them to county resources.

“We provide more than just education,” said Clauser. “We provide the barrier support and partnerships with other county agencies so students can achieve their education goals and transition to employment, training and/or postsecondary education.”

While taking high school equivalency classes, Weng was also studying for her naturalization test, with help from Clauser. She eventually obtained her citizenship in 2022.

“She didn’t need to attend the civics class. She studied on her own,” said Clauser. “I just helped her a little bit at the end and worked with her to do mock interviews.”

“The interview is really important,” said Weng. “Susan had me practice step by step for the interview, so before I went, I knew what the steps were. It helped me.”

Weng obtained her GED in July after more than five years and 450 hours in Keystone’s program. On September 18, in accordance with Adult Education and Family Literacy week in the United States, Keystone held a celebration for Weng at Souderton Mennonite Church.

“Jinfeng refused to quit,” said Barry Schwartz, Keystone’s high school equivalency coordinator. “With all of the challenges that fell upon her, she persevered, and the result is that she has a diploma to show for it.”

The celebration was attended by Weng’s entire immediate family, including her two daughters, who now live in the United States and are enrolled in the North Penn School District.

“They came here last year,” said Weng. “But I don’t spend time with them, so I don’t know about them; they don’t know about me. So we need time to get along with each other.”

Weng is currently enrolled in Keystone’s college and career English class, which Clauser describes as a transition class to postsecondary education and/or career pathways. Having obtained her GED, Weng expressed a desire to attend college.

“My dream is to go to college to become maybe a nurse, but I don’t know yet,” said Weng.

But as she contemplates her next steps, Weng has nothing but gratitude for Keystone’s adult education program.

“If I didn’t find the Keystone program, I don’t think I [could have] finished the GED, because I cannot join in person because I have to work,” said Weng. “I don’t think I [could have] done the first step and continue my dream. I really appreciate the Keystone program.”

This article appears courtesy of a content share agreement between North Penn Now and The Reporter. To read more stories like this, visit https://www.thereporteronline.com