from East Hamilton Weekly, Chattanooga Times Free Press Community News, October 7, 2009. By Hannah Campbell
"A mother-daughter team has committed to pass the General Education Development test together this fall.
Ooltewah resident Ruth Durham, 50, says she’s doing it for her daughter. Kellie Smith-Conry, 31, says she’s ready to take charge of her future.
“I hit 30 and I was not where I wanted to be,” said Smith-Conry, who lives in East Ridge. “The only way to get where I wanted to be was to go back and get this.”
Smith-Conry dropped out of Ooltewah High School her junior year after she became pregnant and her father fell and broke his neck.
“He provided everything for the family up until that day,” she said.
Smith-Conry said she had stopped making straight As long before that, in third grade when her mother got sick. Her parents only encouraged passing grades, and she didn’t do any homework.
“I passed every grade by my test scores,” she said.
Today, after scoring high on her pretest, Smith-Conry is in the fast track at RE:START - The Center for Adult Education, which prepares students to take the high school equivalency tests."
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