Alex Smith of Starkville celebrates with her family after graduating from East Mississippi Community College’s Launch Pad adult basic education program with her GED Thursday at EMCC’s Lion Hills campus in Columbus. A total of 17 students earned their GEDs.

    COLUMBUS – Alex Smith suffers from test anxiety – but her time at East Mississippi Community College’s Launch Pad left her too prepared to fail.

    The 17-year-old from Starkville was one of 17 Launch Pad students to earn their GED diplomas last week at EMCC’s Lion Hills campus in Columbus. To get there, they all had to pass a more difficult, all-online GED test Mississippi began using in 2014.

    “I was really anxious. Luckily, I had some really good teachers and I was prepared,” said Smith.

    Smith began attending Launch Pad adult basic education classes at EMCC’s Golden Triangle campus in January after leaving high school early. She plans to attend EMCC using the $1,000 scholarship offered to all Launch Pad GED graduates and eventually attend Mississippi State University to become a therapist. But before she could tackle the GED test, she had to shore up her biggest weakness: math.

    “Miss Geneva Atkins really helped a lot with that. She explained things really well and helped me recall a lot of what I had learned in school,” Smith said.

“And when some of us were having trouble, they set up a math workshop where three teachers explained the material. And it blew my mind how easy it was to understand this stuff with three people explaining it differently.”

    It was Atkins, a Launch Pad instructor, who presented Smith with an award during the ceremony for earning the highest score in her graduating class on the GED test.

    Smith said anyone considering the GED test would be well prepared by the Launch Pad’s instructors.

    “I would definitely encourage them to go to EMCC. The people there are very supportive and it does make a difference,” she said.

    Ten graduates participated in the ceremony at Lion Hills. They included: Xaiver Adams of Columbus; William Carr of Miami, Fla.; Jeremy Godsey of Carrollton; Tyson Halfacre of Starkville; Deah Lemmon of Ackerman; Destiny McDill of Caledonia; JR Morgan of Starkville; Dawnice Mullins of Columbus; Alex Smith of Starkville and Shikasmine Walker of Columbus.

    To learn more about Launch Pad GED classes, visit eastms.edu.