Student Spotlight: Cody

Hi, my name is Cody. I’m from Andrews, Indiana. I’m the youngest of three brothers, I have no children, I have the love of my life, and I work at a shipping company.

The town I lived in has always been run-down. There wasn’t much to do, not much to see, and not a lot of great people around. I always just tried to get through, and in doing that, I ended up finding some great people. I didn’t have a great mom to take care of my brothers and me, but we left her and did great things for ourselves. There was a time when none of us thought we could make it on our own, and now we’re all graduates, we all have good jobs, and we have good lives.

All I gotta say is—don’t let the bad things in life ruin what could be good for you. Don’t let it keep you from being you. Everyone has a bright future, and it all comes to them in time, so don’t let that chance get away.

School always sucked for me. There weren’t many teachers who wanted to help. I got dragged along because of “No Child Left Behind,” and I never really got the chance to figure most of the stuff out. But there were always a few teachers who cared—teachers who helped me and got me to figure things out. Those people kept me from dropping out. Still, I knew I wasn’t going to make it through my senior year, so I decided to try for my GED.

I decided to get my GED the right way. There were always people telling me to cheat just to get it over with, but I wouldn’t have accomplished anything if I did that. So, I did it. I got my GED without cheating a single bit—and if someone like me, who didn’t do a thing in school, can get his GED, then anyone can.

My experience here was weird at first. I wasn’t used to being around a bunch of grown people, but I got used to it. Everyone here is really nice. It was much easier for me to focus on my GED because I wasn’t surrounded by a bunch of kids who didn’t care if they got theirs or not. I cared—so I came here and got it done.

The people here are some of the best you could meet. They’re so helpful and so nice. You never have to worry about asking questions because, to them, there are no dumb questions. All they want to do is help people move forward in life.

I’m not sure what my goals will be. I have the normal ones—keeping a good job, having a house, and starting a family—but other than that, I’m just waiting for life to show me what it wants me to do. I do plan on making more music, but other than that, I’ve got a blank slate to carve.

If a kid like me—who came from an awful home, with no support from immediate family, who couldn’t get through school without “No Child Left Behind”—can get his GED, then I hope people see this and think to themselves, I can get it, too.

This Literacy Alliance is amazing. The people here will help you no matter what. I can’t express how grateful I am to have met all these people and to have had the help they gave me along the way.