From GED to 4.0 GPA college student
Mar 28, 2024Cierra Marlowe didn’t have an easy time in high school, where teachers did not recognize her potential.
“In class, 老师会让澳门威尼斯人娱乐城打开课本，从这一页读到这一页, and that we’d have a quiz tomorrow,” she said. “They wouldn’t tell us what we needed to learn, so I would take notes on what I thought was important, 但这些都不会出现在测试中，我会不及格. The teachers just said I wasn’t paying attention.”
Still intent on finishing high school, 马洛离开了传统的校园环境，在网上获得了文凭, an option that was not free like the public school system. But an unstable home life led her to drop out completely.
马洛在18岁的时候搬出了家，用从父亲那里继承的遗产买了一套简陋的待修房屋.
“我住在那里，在宝洁公司工作了两年，”她说. 但后来发生了Covid，她发现自己失业了.
“I didn’t have my GED so nobody wanted to hire me. 我开始在一家汽车修理店工作，拿着最低工资, 然后救世军在他们的零售店有一个职位，所以他们雇佣了我, which jumpstarted my journey,” Marlowe said.
And what a journey it has been.
“我在2022年结婚，这开启了一个全新的篇章. 我必须改善自己，成为我丈夫娶的那个女人，以及他对我的看法, and I wanted to fulfill that,” Marlowe said. As the couple started their life together, 她很快意识到，为了未来，她需要更稳定的经济状况.
救世军的商店经理注意到马洛的职业道德，鼓励她继续攻读普通教育文凭.
Marlowe took the advice, 并于2023年1月就读于澳门威尼斯人娱乐城的高中同等文凭课程.
“我很紧张，很害羞，这对我没有任何帮助. 我不想做，这就是我直到24岁才拿到普通教育文凭的原因. 我必须这样做，因为这就是你获得结果的方式，”马洛说.
GED课程是校内和面对面学习的结合.
“The staff were nice and very pleasant. 他们的教学方式正是我想要的学习方式，因为它是通过讲座. You’re told what to learn and you write it down, and that’s the best way to know what you need to know,” she said.
马洛及时完成了GED课程，并于2023年夏季注册成为RCC的正式大学生.
She is in the Fine Arts program, 她正在攻读两年制副学士学位，目前她的成绩是4分.0 grade-point average.
“RCC has been amazing. It’s a lot different from high school. There’s no drama and everybody is like family. Opinions usually cause discourse, but we have discussions. We are a community,” she said.
马洛能够从讲课中学习，这是她的拿手好戏.
“Some people don’t get [what’s being taught], 所以你需要和老师交流，问问题,” she said. “这里的老师会告诉你你需要知道的，如果你理解了，你就可以通过考试.”
马洛甚至参与了校园生活，并鼓励其他学生加入艺术俱乐部.
“这不是专门为美术专业的学生准备的. 任何人都可以加入澳门威尼斯人娱乐城，参加户外风景画或参观罗利艺术博物馆等活动,” she said.
Marlowe’s love of art began in her childhood, when her sister introduced her to anime, which is now her career goal.
而动画则让人联想到创作者坐在电脑前设计艺术品的画面, Marlowe said there are traditional art skills involved.
“There’s a niche for different things. 有些人可能想要一幅他们最喜欢的角色的画，而另一些人可能只想要一幅素描. 传统媒体正在重新流行起来，现在变得比电脑的东西更有价值,” she said. “When you storyboard, that’s with pencil. The computer can’t do everything. You have to have the skill to draw on a piece of paper, put it up there, and then walk through the story. 2D is still very much alive.”
年轻的时候，马洛就找到了自己喜欢的动漫.
“它始于《澳门威尼斯人娱乐城》，但那不是我真正感兴趣的. Then it went to Inuyasha, 讲述了一个日本的中学生掉进了一口神秘的井里，被送到了中世纪的日本，不得不与恶魔战斗的故事. It was totally cool,” she said.
“作为一个小女孩，看着《澳门威尼斯人娱乐城》和那部动画, 我喜欢那些展示孩子们做的比你期望孩子做的更多的电视节目,” she said. “我会从剧里画一些东西，然后把自己和粉丝一起投入到剧里.”
She also enjoyed video games like Spyro and Crash.
“我想做一些能像那些节目和游戏那样激励我的东西. 我想成为一个创造者，激励一个小女孩或小男孩想要把他们想象中的东西放进这个世界,” she said. And while she may not fully realize it, 马洛本人就是克服障碍并将她的想象变为现实的活生生的例子.
