Edgewater woman completes new online high school
Posted On: April 24, 2022
Jennifer Goines-Warren, a 37-year-old Edgewater business owner and mother of four, is a woman on a mission.
She recently became the first Volusia County resident to graduate from the Smart Horizon Career Online High School after receiving a scholarship from the Volusia County Public Library. With renewed self-confidence and a diploma in hand, she proclaimed, “Nothing’s going to stop me now!”
Her family, library staff and online coach Elise Weeks joined her at the Edgewater Public Library to celebrate her accomplishment. County Council Representative Danny Robins also stopped by to present her a proclamation designating April 23 as Jennifer Goines-Warren Day.
“I feel renewed,” she said at her graduation party. “I feel like I have a new lease on life. I wanted to do this for myself, and also for my children because I wanted them to see that it’s never too late and you can accomplish anything if you put your mind into it.”
In fact, Goines-Warren gave it her all, completing the program in less than three months. She often sat at her home computer for 21 hours straight to reach her goal, and she had a lot of support from her husband and children, especially 12-year-old Jewel, who looked after her younger siblings while Mom studied and Dad provided essential needs.
Mrs. Goines-Warren and her husband, De’Metric Warren, own and operate J&D Warren Cleaning Crew, cleaning homes and offering special services such as meal preparation and personal care. She’s hoping to expand those services to include health care after she completes the medical assistant program at Daytona State College.
After partnering with Smart Horizons Career Online High School last year, the Volusia County Public Library has awarded 15 scholarships to adults who did not complete high school and wanted to earn an accredited high school diploma and career certificate. Library Services Director Lucinda Colee said the library system plans to award more scholarships in the near future.
The program is funded by the Florida Legislature and administered by the State Library of Florida in partnership with selected public libraries. The Volusia County Public Library receives an allotment of scholarships from the state library to award to students in consultation with Smart Horizon academic coaches based on the results of preliminary classes completed by the students.
The online school allows candidates to select a career focus and earn a certificate in addition to their diploma. Core classes include English, math, social studies and science. In addition, students can choose from career certificates in child care and education, commercial driving, food and hospitality, general career preparation, home care professional, hospitality and leisure, office management, retail customer service, and security professional.
With an eye toward her future, Goines-Warren chose the home care professional track.
For more information about the program and scholarships, visit https://volusialibrary.org/COHS or contact the Volusia County Public Library at VCPLprograms@volusia.org.
