GED Stories

Name: Tahjaleenie

Age: 43

City and State: New York

What motivated you to get your GED degree? I knew I had to get this piece of paper to get the job that I want, or to go to college, and I wanted to do it before my children all became grown.

How have your friends and family helped you? Yes. My fianc?e?? and best friend of 11 years, Leslie, along with her mother, my mother, brothers, sisters, and friends.

What problems have you faced? I had plenty of years to take the GED test, but I was scared that I wouldn’t pass the math portion, and I was too busy making money, travelling, and taking care of my family. Once you start making money and taking care of responibilties, some of us forget about schooling. We see the bills and just want to pay them. We see the vacation and just ant to take one. However, when the money runs out, we have to find a job to make more money. Most of the positions I wanted, I was asked to produce my High School Diploma or GED, and I could not produce it. So I landed on welfare to help get me through the difficult financial times. I also face hardships of being semi-paralysed in a wheelchair, only to be told by doctors that I wouldn’t walk again, but I did walk with the help of God and my children’s mother.
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What do you hope to gain from getting your GED degree? I have accomplished many good things in my life: from becoming a freelance model, music artist, to an author of a national bestselling book titled “G-String Dreams: True Confessions of A Male Exotic Dancer.” I even made appearances on talk shows such as RuPaul, Maury Povich and the former Ricki Lake Show. I want to graduate. I want to wear a cap and gown and frame my GED in my home. I want my children, who are now between the ages of 19 and 12, to see that no matter how old you get, or hard life gets, you don’t give up. I gave up on plenty of things, but I am very close to getting my GED. I scored 400 on the math, 550 on Writing, 490 on Science, 480 Social Studies and 450 Reading. I am determine to keep going. And when I do complete that test, I am coming at the workforce armed and ready. Otherwise, I’ll reopen up my own business again, which was my publishing company Survival First Publishing. Getting a job is still a door that I have to walk through, because I have to face the barriers of my past from getting in trouble with the law some 20 years ago. But I hope by me earning a GED, that door will close.

Do you have more to your story? Getting my GED also for me is the biggest accomplishment I could ever make. I gave up on many things in my life. I have six children and this time; there is no giving up. My new fiance, Leslie, is pushing me to go on, and we want to be married. So I hope I will graduate before we say I DO. It will make a beautiful present.

Tahjaleenie,

You have had an incredibly full life. Getting a GED is important, but never forget your amazing accomplishments. There are millions of high school graduates who haven’t even attempted half the things you’ve done. It’s easy to brush artistic things off like modelling, music, and writing off as lesser things, but in truth, it takes much more effort and fortitude to put yourself out there as an artist than to simply follow the steps society lays out for us. So, be proud of yourself! And have the confidence that with your GED and life experience, you can conquer the world in ways you never dreamed! No door will be closed to you. Good luck, study a little more on your math, and let us know when you pass!

The GED Academy