The Bridge Academy Selma offers adults another path to a diploma

Under the umbrella of The Gospel Tabernacle Church in Selma, The Bridge Academy Selma is helping to impact the Selma/Dallas County dropout rate by giving people an opportunity to earn a high school diploma through an accredited education program from home.

The online school was founded by Pastor John Grayson of the Gospel Tabernacle Church and his wife Dr. C. C. “Chinester” Grayson and is taught by Dean of Instruction Cynthia Hobbs.

The Graysons may be familiar to Selma residents as the owners and operators of the Walton Theater. They also operate a food drive that feeds about 3,000 families per month and a restaurant that feeds children 600 to 1,000 meals a day for free.

C.C. said her husband had a dream: “How can we help the educational dropout rates here in Selma/Dallas County.”

“We found out that a lot of kids who drop out of school don’t go on and finish their high school diploma,” she said. When they learned Hobbs from nearby Jones, Ala., was already working tutoring people who were working on their high school diplomas, “we managed to merge what she was doing with our vision to come up with The Bridge Academy.”

Hobbs explained that she had been teaching the GED program at a community college but decided to tutor on her own in her own way. And she said the success rate of her students went up.

She explained that in programs like those offered at a community college, students must take a TABE (The Adult Basic Education Test) and move up through it before they can even start the GED program. She said many get frustrated and quit.

She also said the GED classes were offered 8 a.m. until 12 p.m. or 12 p.m. – 3 p.m. every day, which was not convenient for someone with children.

Read more about the Bridge Academy in the print edition of the Selma Sun. Subscribe here.