Lifelong learning is more than a slogan; it’s a principle that changes lives and transforms communities. If anybody does it right, it’s Illinois’ Earlville High School. While the city of Earlville may be small, measuring just over one square mile, the school is having a big impact. It’s all thanks to educators who truly inspire lifelong learning to benefit the world.
One of these game-changing educators is Pam Marks, an Earlville counselor. Since her early years, Pam’s dream has been to help students the way her teachers helped her; she’s fulfilling her dreams by helping others reach theirs. “I have known that I've wanted to be in education since I was in fifth grade. My teacher had a huge impact on my life; that is exactly what I set out to do,” Pam says.
This ember of inspiration has continually fueled Pam’s journey. “While I was going to college, I was a teacher’s aide. I then taught 5th grade for ten years,” Pam says. Her own education didn’t stop there: “In that time, I went back and got my master’s degree, and I’ve been doing school counseling for ten years.” Pam’s been leveraging the power of her own education to help others make the most of theirs.
Earlville is truly a family; they look out for each other. The school’s educators are focused on helping students succeed, no matter how unlikely the odds. For Pam, BYU High School Suite has been an indispensable tool in this process. “BYU has allowed us to help those students that need an alternate version of the traditional high school,” Pam says. “We’ve had students that typically in the past, prior to our BYU time, would have either dropped out, have not graduated, or needed to go for a fifth year in order to meet our requirements, but have been able to graduate on time.”
Earlville has been utilizing BYU High School Suite for over a decade, and it’s given them unparalleled flexibility, quite literally resurrecting academic careers. BYU’s curriculum is employed in a range of ways, from two-week summer schools to classes during the semester. “I just had a student that took a final with major test anxiety. I was able to give a redo; when they didn’t pass at the second time, I was able to [administer] that test verbally with them to help them overcome that anxiety,” Pam says. It’s this student-focused agility that has made BYU High School Suite the perfect fit for Earlville.
Pam has seen the influence of her efforts years after the fact. In her first years as a counselor, one student was really struggling, but managed to graduate thanks to BYU High School Suite. This year, that student attended graduation. “He came up and gave me a hug and introduced me to his two year old son,” Pam says. The student expressed his gratitude, saying he wouldn’t be nearly as successful as he is without Pam’s help and the flexibility of the curriculum.
It's instances like these that reflect the true potential of lifelong learning; not to make up a credit here or there, but to make possible the impossible. We’re humbled and inspired by the way in which educators like Pam enhance BYU Continuing Education services to make students’ lives better. It’s been a stellar decade working with Earlville—and the next is sure to be even better.