Enrolment has doubled since the fall semester began at the Morden Adult Education Centre.
    
Director Todd Folkett says their numbers have been down due to Covid, and they are now on their way up. He says enrolment has doubled from the start of the school year to a total of 85 students.

"We just started to see people coming back, I think starting to look for more of a routine, and for a lot of those people it's coming back to school and getting credits towards a mature diploma."

Folkett says a lot of employers in our region are finding it a benefit hiring people with a high school or mature diploma, and that's another reason people are coming back.

"The other reason, people are upgrading a course here or there. Or, that they're getting a mature diploma because they'd like to strengthen some of the opportunities, they have within the company that they're working."

Folkett says they're also seeing an increase in high school graduates coming for additional Grade 12 courses required for entrance into university. 

In 2021/22 the Morden Adult Education Centre had 14 graduates out of the provincial total of 214, which accounts for 6 % of the provincial total.

Folkett feels the fact the centre honours their graduates with a full celebration, complete with cap and gown, plays a role in their strong graduation rate. He added you wouldn't know by looking outside, but students and staff at the centre are already gearing up for graduation in June.

"We have a possible of 20 graduates and they're starting to get very excited," said Folkett. "Because we celebrate their day with a valedictorian, we have guest speakers from the community speak at our grad. We also offer some scholarships through our centre. It's very similar to what they would have expected had they went through the system from K to 12 and had that graduation in Grade 12. So, I think that's an incentive for a lot of our students as they near that end, they get very excited."

~With files from Reporter Robyn Wiebe