Barb Courville, Mimi Ramirez, Kristen Harker, Tony Reynolds, Joanna Reynolds and Zenaida Landeros
The family of Adrianne Reynolds recently donated $5,700 to the Black Hawk College Quad-Cities Foundation to help pay for youth GED® testing for BHC students.
Adrianne’s father, Tony Reynolds, and stepmother, Joanna Reynolds, along with Mimi Ramirez and Kristen Harker, presented the check to Barb Courville, associate dean of adult and continuing education, and Zenaida Landeros, executive director of the Black Hawk College Quad-Cities Foundation.
Adrianne was a 16-year-old student in the college’s Optional Education GED® program when she was killed in January 2005. Since her death, the Reynolds family has raised thousands of dollars to help other high school-age students pay for their GED® testing fees.
This year’s donation was the largest to date. Harker, Ramirez and Cody Wallace – Tony Reynolds’ co-workers at Lanter/Westmore in Rock Island – led a fundraising campaign that more than doubled the 2022 donation.
In the last year, the Reynolds’ previous donation paid for 94 GED® tests and assisted 38 youth GED® students. This year, Black Hawk College has had more than 70 youth GED® students attending classes in Aledo, East Moline and Rock Island.
The college has issued more than 650 GED® vouchers using donations received in Adrianne’s memory. A voucher covers one $36 GED® test. Students may receive a scholarship for one or more of the four GED® tests (math, language arts, social studies and science).
“For many students there is a financial barrier that prevents them from taking the GED® tests,” said Ruth Hakes, GED instructor.
“The Adrianne Reynolds scholarship makes getting a GED® certificate a real possibility, and that certificate is the opening to all kinds of opportunities,” she said.