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(This is fourth and final part of the series from 939 the Eagle’s Brian Hauswirth on the Columbia Goodwill Excel Center)
Downtown Columbia’s Goodwill Excel Center free adult high school currently has about 100 students, with capacity for 200. The free adult high school is for those 21 and older, and students currently range in age from 22 to 79. Goodwill Excel Center career and college readiness coordinator Abby Courtney encourages you to check out the facility on North 4th street.
“We have like a threefold mission. One, a high school diploma. That’s super important. But then we really work on getting them trained, getting certifications, getting them in college, getting them jobs, getting them better jobs. And so there are a lot of opportunities here ranging from the daycare to learning the computer skills even is huge,” Ms. Courtney says.
Ms. Courtney praises Central Bank of Boone County president Ed Scavone for his support of the school. She tells 939 the Eagle she recently asked for backpacks, and that Central Bank of Boone County provided a room full of backpacks.
Meantime, the president of Columbia’s largest bank describes downtown Columbia’s Goodwill Excel Center free adult high school as a highly-advanced organization. Central Bank of Boone County has hired two of the school’s students full-time and will soon be hiring a third for their call center. Bank president Scavone recently toured the school with a 939 the Eagle reporter:
“Taking individuals, have some basic skills and we can teach them a career or a career path in financial services and get them started and have them progress, especially in our organization. You can come at an entry-level and have a career. We have many individual who could come with a high school degree and advance as far as their ambition takes them,” Mr. Scavone says.
Mr. Scavone notes many residents don’t realize the facility is there. It’s on North fourth street in downtown Columbia, in the former “Tribune” building.
Brian Brennaman as an adjunct teacher at the school and now teaches math. Mr. Brennaman loves math and loves teaching there:
“One of the things I heard before I got here was that some of these people at the table saying how much the students loved it and how much they enjoy being here and it’s like a second family to them. To be honest, I might have been a little skeptical of that. But students in my class you know between breaks, between term one and term two we have a week off, and hearing the students saying I don’t know what I’m going to do next week, I’m going to miss being here … tells you what it’s like here,” says Brennaman.
Students also receive a dedicated life coach, career counseling and free childcare. You can reach the downtown Columbia Excel Center at (573) 499-1220.
939 the Eagle news director Brian Hauswirth toured downtown Columbia’s Goodwill Excel Center free adult high school on January 26, 2024. Here is Brian’s full unedited interview with Central Bank of Boone County president Ed Scavone, Goodwill Excel Center career and college readiness coordinator Abby Courtney and numerous other school faculty members:
