State and local Educators and Students were honored today in Columbus. The Tillinghurst Adult Education Center was honored for winning the State of Georgia’s Literacy Awareness Competition. At the luncheon several graduates and GED scholarship recipients spoke about their struggles and how they found success at Tillinghurst. Director, Sally Sinclair was awarded by Columbus Technical College President Bob Jones and Deputy Commissioner Dr. Freida Hill during the luncheon. NBC 38 spoke to many partners in the GED program who say it’s everyone’s civil duty to help those who don’t have their basic education to achieve their GED and beyond. Columbus Technical College President Bob Jones said, “Realize that 14-million household heads in this country that have less than a high school education, so GED training is extremely important and Adult Education is extremely important in our country.” It’s so critically important, I think to our workforce development. Because one of our goals is these students get their GED we’d like to see them of course transition to a technical college or another post secondary institution. To get the skills and knowledge that they need to be gainfully employed,” Dr. Freida Hill, Deputy Commissioner added. Columbus Adult Education program won the literacy contest, by defeating Atlanta, Savannah and Macon. Since January nearly 500 students have successfully obtained their GED at Tillinghurst. And enrollment has increased nearly 10 percent since July. For more information about the GED program call 706-683-8741.