For Immediate Release:
September 29, 2017
Primary Media Contact:
Sally Voth
Public Relations Specialist
[email protected]
Phone: 540-868-7134
Laurel Ridge’s Adult Basic Education (ABE) program has been awarded state and federal grants totaling more than $2.1 million over the course of three years. The grants will benefit various programs, including adult education, integrated English language civics education, general adult education, PluggedIn Virginia and Race to GED.
All of the adult education courses are free to students.
The college’s ABE serves about 900 students each year, and is one of 22 adult education program regions in Virginia. With five full-time and 38 part-time instructors, it holds classes in 15 locations in Laurel Ridge’s service region, including the new Valley Workforce Center on the Our Health Campus in Winchester.
“Laurel Ridge’s ABE serves many different types of adult students,” program manager Amy Judd says. “Some of our students already have a high school diploma and are looking to enter college or workforce training, but first want to brush up on their academic skills. Others hope to earn their GED. Or, they may not be native English speakers and are here to improve their language skills or better understand the rights and responsibilities of American citizenship.
“The latter will benefit from a grant that is new to Laurel Ridge, the $140,000-per-year Integrated English Language Civics Education grant, which will allow us to add English language classes here in Middletown, offer civics and citizenship classes, and will also contextualize English language instruction to help non-native speakers enter trainings in specific career pathways, such as the medical field or industrial trades. It is an absolute game changer for us, and we will be starting these classes in the next few weeks.”
For more information about ABE at Laurel Ridge, call (540) 869-0748, or visit laurelridge.edu/adulteducation.
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Founded in 1970, Laurel Ridge Community College is a multi-campus public institution of higher education. With four locations — Middletown, Warrenton, Luray-Page County and most recently, Vint Hill— the College serves eight localities in the Shenandoah Valley and northern Piedmont regions. The localities are the counties of Clarke, Fauquier, Frederick, Page, Rappahannock, Shenandoah and Warren and the city of Winchester. Laurel Ridge offers more than 75 associate degree and certificate programs in a wide variety of disciplines, in addition to providing access to bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs offered on site by a four-year institution. Laurel Ridge also serves the business community by offering workforce preparation programs for employees and employers. Laurel Ridge serves more than 9,000 unduplicated credit students and more than 11,000 individuals in professional development and business and industry courses annually.
Laurel Ridge Community College (Laurel Ridge) is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award associate degrees. Contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097 or call 404-679-4500 for questions about the accreditation of Laurel Ridge Community College. Laurel Ridge Community College is an equal opportunity institution providing educational and employment opportunities, programs, services, and activities and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, age, religion, disability, national origin, marital status, political affiliation, sexual orientation, or other non-merit factors. Laurel Ridge also prohibits sexual misconduct including sexual violence or harassment.
Laurel Ridge Community College was known as Lord Fairfax Community College until June 2022. For consistency purposes, the college will be referenced as Laurel Ridge going forward.
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