Woods: Her inspiration for getting her GED? Her mother went back to class and got hers.
In this, and every graduation season, there are thousands of success stories all across our area.
Some involve valedictorians with GPAs higher than even seems possible, an absurdly long list of extracurricular activities and a future at some prestigious college. Those certainly are admirable. But for this graduation season, I have a different kind of story.
It’s the story of a mother and daughter who didn’t graduate. Not at first anyway. And that’s part of what makes their story admirable.
First, at age 40, Quartx Barney got her GED. By doing so, she motivated her daughter, Quatiyana, to also go to the Brentwood Community Center, take classes offered by the Literacy Alliance of Northeast Florida and get her GED.
COVID and Class of 2020
It is partly an epilogue to the story of the Class of 2020.
As a parent of a child in that high school class, I know quite well how the start of the pandemic, unfolding in the waning months of senior year, took a toll on those kids. I also know that in many ways my daughter was fortunate. She managed to plow through finishing off classes virtually, eventually have a socially-distanced graduation and head off to college.
Some of the Class of 2020 never made it to high school graduation.
Quatiyana Barney was one of those.
She was a senior at Wolfson. When schools abruptly closed in March 2020, her mother tried to keep her on track, waking her up in the morning, trying to encourage her by saying she didn’t even have to go to school. She just needed to get online for a few hours.
Quatiyana says she tried, but she struggled with remote learning.
“I think I’m better in the classroom environment,” she said. “And I felt like a lot was going on then, not just in school, but in life.”
She didn’t graduate with her class. But two years later, in 2022, something happened that would eventually prompt her to return to classes this year. Her mother went to the Brentwood Community Center and met Sherri Jackson, a Literacy Alliance of Northeast Florida instructor.
“Miss Sherri sees the potential in you,” Quartx Barney says, “even if you don’t see it in yourself yet.”
Back to class
Sitting in the community center with her daughter, Quartx Barney tells a bit of her story. She was born in Jacksonville — on the way to the hospital, her mother timed the contractions on a Quartz watch and got the inspiration for her name — and grew up in this neighborhood.
She went to Brentwood Elementary and on her way to Raines High School.
When she got pregnant, she stopped going to school and started working. And when she had two more children, she set aside thoughts about going back to school. But once the kids got a little older, she started thinking about how to move her life beyond some of the jobs she’d been doing.
“I wanted to go forward,” she said. “I wanted to not just be stuck.”
She really wanted to go to culinary school. She’s always loved cooking, especially soul food and barbecue. Going to culinary school required a high school diploma. So she started looking into how to earn a GED.
It involves passing four tests. She passed the ones for science, social studies and language arts. But she kept stumbling on the math test. She was about to give up when she learned about the classes at the Brentwood center.
Literacy Alliance in Jacksonville
The Literacy Alliance of Northeast Florida, formerly Learn to Read Jacksonville, is dedicated to providing continuing education for adults without a high-school diploma — and helping those who want to earn the recognized equivalent of one. It's the largest adult literacy program in the community and one of the largest in the state. About 900 adults currently are enrolled in tutoring and small group classes, at 15 sites throughout the area.
Jackson, the instructor at Brentwood, remembers when Quartx Barney first arrived for classes.
“She was telling us how she had been struggling with that math test for some years,” she said. “She had taken it numerous times and she just couldn't get past that point. She could’ve easily said, ‘Forget it.’ I admire the fact that she didn’t want to give up.”
Quartx Barney says that Miss Sherri wouldn’t let her.
“I came here frustrated,” she said. “I was like, ‘I don't think I can do this.’ But she does not let up.”
Quartx Barney was the first in her Brentwood class to earn her GED. She was able to put on a cap and gown and go through not one, but two graduation ceremonies. One for graduates at the community center, the other a collective celebration of Literacy Alliance students from all over town.
Jackson asked her to speak to the other students and family members at the Brentwood graduation.
“She was such an asset to have in class,” Jackson said. “Whether she realizes it or not, she was so motivational to the other students. They saw her struggle when she initially came in and heard how she had been struggling for years to get it finished. So when she did finish, it really encouraged the rest of them.”
Beyond that, it encouraged someone else: her daughter.
Another celebration
Quartx Barney started telling her daughter that she should go to the community center.
Ask Quatiyana, who is now 21, about returning to classes and she echoes some of the things her mother said about the instructor. How Miss Sherri was always there, not only teaching the subjects but offering precisely the kind of encouragement she needed.
Jackson downplays what she did for Quatiyana. She says that from the beginning, she could tell that she didn’t need much help. She was smart. It hadn’t been that long since she had been in school. It would come back quickly. And it did. Only took her about six weeks to pass the four tests.
Her mother glances over at her and says: “I knew she was going to do it. I didn't think she was going to do it that fast. I’m very proud of her. I don't know if she knows it, but I'm proud of her.”
Quatiyana still hasn’t had a graduation ceremony. She passed the fourth test and officially got her GED shortly after the spring graduation events. So she’ll be a part of the Literary Alliance celebrations in the fall. Her mother says that when her little brother graduates from Raines next year, she wants to get a picture of all of them in their caps and gowns.
“We have been through a lot of trials and tribulations, some of it that I caused, but to get through that and still get on the straight and narrow and do what you need to do,” she said. “It's got to be leading to something better.”
For her, it already is.
She has a job she likes at NAPA Auto Parts. And when she finishes her shift, she goes to school. She is taking culinary classes at Florida State College at Jacksonville.
mwoods@jacksonville.com
(904) 359-4212
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Mother's graduation inspired daughter to get her GED
