Fall is Here!

by | Sep 3, 2015 | Volunteer Stories

Educational Classes this fall at Alpha Women's Center of Grand Rapids

By: Abigail Date: 09/03/2015

Fall is here! You know what that means… cozy sweaters, scented candles, cups of hot cider, football games, apple picking, corn mazes, and watching leaves change from green to bright red, orange and yellow. And of course that also means a new school year!

For parents, it means buying school supplies, going to orientations, and making sure your kids have chosen the right classes with the right teachers. For students it means new clothes, a new backpack, school supplies, and seeing your friends again. It’s time for classes and homework, maybe a basketball practice, dance practice, football practice, flute lesson, or piano lesson after school.

For Alpha Women’s Center of Grand Rapids (AWC) it means new classes: Pregnancy Education, GED, English as a Second Language (ESL) and Parenting. All classes are held on-site, free-of-charge, and designed to meet our clients’ needs. AWC has many clients who don’t speak English as their first language—so we offer an ESL Class. Most of our clients don’t have their High School Diploma—so we offer a GED Completion Program. A lot of our clients are either first-time moms or new moms that have not been taught about prenatal wellness, labor & delivery, postpartum depression and infant care—so we offer a Pregnancy Education Class. The majority of our clients are parents, who are always eager to learn more about raising their kids—so we offer Parenting Classes.

AWC classes are growing!

ESL classes began in 2012 with 6 women; 37 women have already enrolled for class next week
GED Completion Program started in 2012 and has helped 64 women receive their GED; 6 more women will start class this fall
Pregnancy Education Classes had 4 women attend in 2014; now 10 women are in every class, with 17 signed up for this fall
Parenting Class usually has 6 women with 13 women are coming to class this fall
Whether you’re sending your kids off to school, teaching class, going to school yourself, or just enjoying the change of weather, there are many reasons to love fall. At AWC, we are excited for this fall because that means another year of classes that change hearts, change lives, change generations.

If you are interested in signing up for a class or volunteering with our educational services, please connect with us.