Beaufort County Community College is encouraging area residents to complete high school equivalency degrees and will give them a chance to see where they stand during an event next week.

BCCC Division of Continuing Education will host its annual Assessment Day on Aug. 20, beginning at 9 a.m. in the Building 8 auditorium on campus. Sign-in will begin at 8:30 a.m. The event will give participants the opportunity to test their readiness to take the battery of high school equivalency tests and to learn more about classes offered at the college, said BCCC Basic Skills Assessment and Retention Specialist Penelope Radcliffe. The event also targets those students who may have started, but not completed their high school equivalencies.

Participants will take the Test of Adult Basic Education (TABE) to gauge where they stand in regards to their educational capabilities, Radcliffe said. The TABE is a two-section assessment that contains both reading comprehension and math questions. The college can serve anyone 16 and older. For those under 16 years of age, a parent or guardian must sign them up, Radcliffe said.

“This is kind of like a pretest to give us an idea of where to start, what you know and where to go from here,” Radcliffe said. “We host this annual event to try to promote awareness in the community for those who didn’t finish high school or those who need extra help in Basic Skills. We welcome any person who has not completed high school ever.”

During the event, BCCC Basic Skills staff will be present to advise participants on their remaining high school equivalency coursework, Radcliffe said. The Basic Skills program focuses on developing academic competencies as well as the fundamental skills necessary to acquire jobs, including listening, critical thinking, problem solving, negotiating and organizing.

Radcliffe said the event will also be a good time for those who have not yet started their GEDs to take the assessment to see if they can earn their high school equivalencies. Those who take the assessment will receive the results soon after they take it and counseled individually by staff about whether they are ready to take the GED test.

“We want to assess them to help them see where they stand,” Radcliffe said. “The GED is $80 now. We don’t want them to spend the money when they’re not ready.”

Radcliffe said the college raised over $2,500 at Gullfest this year for scholarships, which will aid 50 students or more in paying to get their GED.

Also at the event will be Beaufort County Literacy Volunteers, an organization that provides free tutoring to anyone in the community who may need help in their educational endeavors, Radcliffe said.

In addition to the assessment, the event will include lunch and door prizes, donated by NautiLife, Down on Main Street, Cottage Junkies, Dominos, Subway, Frank’s Pizza, Zaxbys, Pizza Inn, State Employees Credit Union, First South Bank, the BCCC Foundation, Literacy Volunteers of Beaufort County and Pecheles Automotive, Radcliffe said.

For more information about the event, contact Penelope Radcliffe at 252-940-6325 or by email at peneloper@beaufortccc.edu. Information about upcoming changes in the GED is also available at www.beaufortccc.edu/coned/ged.htm.