Adult Education

The Center for Lifelong Learning at The Pruden Center for Industry and Technology is a regional adult education program designed to serve the educational needs of adults in the City of Suffolk and Isle of Wight County. The Center’s goal is to provide a comprehensive range of programs for adults who want to improve their basic educational level, learn a new job skill, upgrade skills used on a current job, or just take classes for self-improvement and personal satisfaction.

The courses offered are determined by the needs which exist in the community. A nominal tuition is charged for most classes, and a minimum number of students is required. Approximately 1,200 adults from Suffolk took advantage of courses offered through the Center for Lifelong Learning during the 2003-04 school term. The classes are offered in various locations throughout the city and the county in an effort to make them accessible.

The Center for Lifelong Learning has also enabled the school division to offer high school credit classes at night. Adult students who just need a course in English, or government, for example, can go back to “night high school” and take the course they need to earn a regular high school diploma.

Adult Basic Education classes are offered free of charge to adults who want to improve their basic academic skills to at least an eighth grade level. When participants successfully complete those classes, they may continue in the General Education Development (GED) diploma preparation course which will prepare them to take the high school equivalency test. An applicant for the GED test must be at least 18 years of age and out of school. The Center for Lifelong Learning is an approved GED testing facility, offering the test on the second Saturday of each month.

A broad range of vocational classes is also available through the Center for Lifelong Learning. These include classes in business education, health occupations, family and consumer sciences, and industrial and technical areas. These courses are designed to teach specific job skills for those who want to upgrade their current job skills or to change careers. These classes are offered in well-equipped laboratories at The Pruden Center for Industry and Technology.

The Suffolk Public Schools / Obici Hospital School of Practical Nursing is co-sponsored by the school division and the hospital. The school has graduated close to 600 practical nurses since 1959 and 99.6 percent of the graduates are licensed. A high percentage of the school’s alumni are employed in Suffolk as hospital nurses, physicians’ office nurses, nursing home staff nurses, respiratory therapists and EKG technicians. Applications for this program are accepted May through October.

The Center for Lifelong Learning and Suffolk Public Schools work with local industry to provide workplace literacy classes for employees. The program started more than 20 years ago with the Planters Employee Training (PET) program and is now expanding to include additional companies each year, such as the Western Tidewater Regional Jail, Suffolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority, Obici Hospital, and Sara Lee Coffee & Tea.

For additional information about specific adult education programs, please call Gail Bess at (757)925-6760, or The Center for Lifelong Learning at (800)831-8639 or (757)925-5651.