New Zealand Native to Pursue Photography Dreams With Scholarship

The following is a press release from Jessica Foster, marketing and communications manager for Adult Options In Education. AOIE is supported by the community education departments of the Hopkins, Minnetonka and St. Louis Park school districts, along with the Hennepin County Adult Correctional Facility:

Today, Amanda Stadther of Hopkins will celebrate both a beginning and an ending.

Stadther will go to her first day as a student at Hennepin Community College in the afternoon, and then walk across the Hopkins Center for the Arts’ stage in a cap and gown to celebrate long-awaited success at Adult Options In Education’s GED graduation ceremony.

A native of Christchurch, New Zealand, Stadther is the 2012 recipient of the Bernice Brooks Memorial Scholarship. The $500 scholarship is paid toward tuition at an accredited post-secondary school. It is given in memory of long-time volunteer and educator Bernice Brooks, who worked with ESL and ABE students in Hopkins for more than a quarter century.

For Stadther, it helps fund her journey to reach her dream of becoming a professional photographer.

“Amanda is an AOIE outstanding student,” Jane Kono, Adult Options In Education coordinator, said. “We are most proud of her accomplishment in earning her GED and want to support her ongoing education at the college level.”

By scoring in the 90th percentile in the five exams, Stadther also earned recognition as an Honors graduate.

“I am from a small rural town in New Zealand and to attend an American college has been a long-time dream,” Stadther said. “Like Bernice Brooks I would like to teach and share my skills.”

She first came to classes on the third floor of the on Halloween. It was appropriate, as then she considered math just about the scariest subject. But she came to conquer the beast. Teachers Jeannie Amundson and Jean Severson helped in the mission.

“When Mandy began classes with me, she could not do long division. Her multiplication facts were slow,”  Severson said. “Over the course of just six months, Mandy has shown such dedication and determination that she has now passed the math portion of the GED. The breadth of her accomplishment is amazing to me.”

She spent more than 175 hours in class learning math, enrolling in ABE transitions classes to prepare for college and getting ready for her next step in education.

“You just have to come every day. I think that’s the key,” she said.  “It took a few weeks of doing that, but then I thought, maybe I can do this. It took me a while to catch on to that.”

With Adult Options In Education, Stadther said she has earned more than a diploma, a scholarship and an honors cord.

“I got a lot of confidence here,” she said. “I never thought I could do math. I just thought it was something I was never going to do.”

The skills and patience of her teachers made the difference.

“Jean (Severson) would just sit down with me for what seemed like hour after hour and go over it. She knows how to keep class moving, too. There was no messing around,” she said. “Jeannie (Amundson) helped me through all of my tests. It was really cool.”

While she is quite proud of her accomplishments, and is looking forward to what comes next, she said anyone can find academic success.

“Just put your mind to it and you can do it,” Stadther said. “A lot of people are held back by things that they thought they couldn’t do—like I was.”

The scholarship began in 2010 with funds donated to AOIE in Brooks’ memory. AOIE hopes to continue giving the scholarship for many years to come. Tax-deductible contributions toward the scholarship fund may be sent to Adult Options In Education, Eisenhower Community Center, 1001 Highway 7, Hopkins, MN, 55305.

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Public Invited to GED Graduation

• When: Today, 7 p.m.
• Where:
• Who: Students in AOIE classes locally
• Cost: Free (cake will also be served)