MOORE — Estelle Cubell takes a front row seat in class, flips open a binder and tests her ink pen to make sure it isn't dry.
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Twenty minutes early, she uses the time to organize papers and look over her notes from the last session. She sits up straight, takes a swig of a caffeinated soft drink and gets ready to focus her attention on the instructor.
Cubell is a model student, but she's far from a traditional student. She's an 86-year-old grandmother — too old, she said, to sugar her words.
"I'm an old lady and I'm a high school dropout,” Cubell said. "That's why I'm here.”
What she lacks in youth, Cubell makes up for with ambition. Her goal is to have in her grasp a certificate to show she's no quitter. Twice a week she takes GED preparation courses at Moore Community Center in hopes of earning her high school diploma.
The free program is administered through the Norman Public School Adult Education System. The class in Moore is taught by Ann Burtcher, a veteran teacher with fiery red hair and a personality to match.
In Burtcher's classroom no one is spared a turn to work problems at the board. Several of her students have taken classes elsewhere, but they said none offer Burtcher's commando-style instruction.
"She really pushes us to find our potential, but in a good way,” Cubell said. "She cares about us.”
Cubell was 16 and a sophomore in high school when she "got in her mind” to quit and take a job as a switchboard operator. The decision was a disappointment to her father and a regret that's haunted her.
After leaving high school, life happened. She got married and then there were children to raise. Before she realized it, seven decades swept by, she said.
Cubell said she's getting a better education now than she did during her teen years. Back then, she learned to type on a manual typewriter and now she's becoming handy with a computer. There also is algebra and new scientific discoveries to learn about, she said.
A "Mrs. Fix-it” class and advanced computer courses at a nearby vocational school have caught her eye.
"I want to keep learning new things and I'm not wasting any time,” Cubell said. "Life is too short.”
Rhonda Ferrel said her elder classmate has been an inspiration. Ferrel, 42, dropped out of school at 15.
"I look at Estelle and think if she can do it, then so can I,” Ferrel said.
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Looking for an education?
For GED classes in the metro area, call:
•Norman Adult Learning Center, 366-1059 •Shawnee Adult Learning Center, 878-3101 •Oklahoma City Adult Learning Center, 231-2053 •Oklahoma City Community College, 682-1611
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