Carliastro Jones - students

It wasn’t until Carliastro began classes with Seeds of Literacy that he was granted the hindsight to realize the value of the education he missed in his youth. “I didn’t try hard enough,” he admits while recalling his teenage years. “I didn’t care. I didn’t know the importance of an education.” But at Seeds of Literacy, Carliastro, like many of his fellow students, found a second chance for an education. “I’ve learned more [at Seeds] than I learned when I was in high school, passed things I didn’t pass in high school,” Carliastro reflects. When asked about the progress he’s made at Seeds, he quickly lists the math on which he’s advanced (decimals, percents, geometry, advanced algebra), and then beams as he sums it all up: “Great progress.”

While his academic progress encourages Carliastro to keep going, the staff and students at Seeds of Literacy are just as important a reason for him to attend. Carliastro’s favorite thing about Seeds of Literacy is the atmosphere. “We seem to get along with everyone,” he says. “[There are] different characters here, different people, but we seem to have the unity that we’re all here for one specific goal. I pretty much love it here.” Carliastro finds the tutors to be friendly and knowledgeable, but it’s the students who offer a special kind of camaraderie and encouragement. “To see I’m not the only one who didn’t graduate, [that’s what] drives me, what constantly brings me back to achieve what I couldn’t achieve years ago.”

As Carliastro gets ever closer to earning his GED, he’s weighing the options for his future. One of his plans is to attend a trade school to learn about carpentry and construction. His heart, though, seems to lie in the family business—his parents have a church where his father is the pastor, and Carliastro is in line to join him. “It’s something I’ve wanted to do since I was eight years old,” he explains, smiling. Whatever his decision, Carliastro will know that by having earned his GED, he’ll have also earned control over his own future.