Mr. Allen Guidry
Allen Guidry, a student in SLCC's Adult Education program in Crowley, has been named Student of the Year by the Louisiana Association for Public, Community, and Adult Education. Guidry, 57-years-old, recently earned his high school equivolency diploma and plans to enroll at SLCC.
Below is an excerpt from his nomination letter by his teacher Darrin Campbell:
"In his own studies, Mr. Allen struggled. He spent most of his youth working, having dropped out of school when he was about 14 years old. In his adult life, he worked on the heavy machinery in the salt mines on Avery Island, and he later ran a successful tire business. But, he wanted to ease back and get into an easier profession with air-conditioning. He wanted to be a barber. But, one needs a diploma to get into barber school. He enrolled with us a week after he learned that. Considering he’d been out of school for the better part of 3 decades, he didn’t do well on his initial testing. And, although it was obvious that he had a ways to go, Mr. Allen didn’t seem the least bit intimidated; he just asked when his first day of class was.
He struggled at first, to say the least, as he got a used to being in a classroom again; nevertheless, he was always enthusiastic. He once said, “I wish I enjoyed school this much when I was younger!” Mr. Allen made slow and steady progress through the post-tests, and eventually, he started knocking out sections of the HiSET, passing the Science, Social Studies, and Language tests pretty quickly. However, he also did not pass the Math and Reading sections, and he used up his three tries for the year. That didn’t stop him. He kept coming into class, usually 9-12 hours a week (instead of the required 6 hours), and he always asked for extra help. A couple of tries later, he aced the Math test, but Reading was still lingering. He used all of his tries in 2019, desperately wanting to walk in the December graduation. It came and went, and he was clearly disappointed, but not discouraged.
As we moved into lockdown mode with COVID19, Mr. Allen stayed in constant contact. He procured several practice textbooks, novels, magazines, pretty much anything he could read. He kept plugging away, kept practicing, and once HiSET reopened their testing sites, he went in. AND HE PASSED! He made the grade on the Reading, and he’s now a graduate with a High School Equivalency Diploma.
Teachers don’t play favorites, but let’s admit it, we have favorites. Besides a student and now a graduate, he has become a very good friend. At 57 years old, he did what so many told him he could never do. He plans to enroll at SLCC to start with, and in his words, “I’ll see where this takes me. I’m not done yet.”
Mr. Allen is a true inspiration for all of us in Crowley. Watching him work hard makes all of us work harder. I will miss him in class, his wisdom and wit, his fatherly presence. Whatever he does, he’s on to great things. He accomplished his main goal, which was “…to make my little girl proud of me.”