The Forum Newspaper

Thursday, June 21, 2018

The Gateway to College (GTC) graduated 15 students in May as the program celebrated 10 years at St. Louis Community College. James Gillespie manages the program which is designed to help at risk students earn their GED and earn college credits toward an Associates Degree. This year several students graduated with their high school diploma and their Associates Degree from St. Louis Community College at the same time.

photo credit: Ezra Hightower, Forum Newspaper staff

Journalist and author, Toriano Porter, offered words of encouragement as the graduation celebration's guest speaker. Porter, a St. Louis native, discussed the importance of preparing for greatness and working hard to achieve success.

The Gateway to College program originally came to the STLCC as a grant from the Bill and Melindaand deals with workers’ rights. They have had enough of receiving the short end of the stick, and the only option that interests them is a strike.

The production is compiled of six different vignettes and flashbacks from the characters, seemingly unrelated. The only common factors they each share are their jobs, and they all havea story to tell. The play dives headfirst into burning topics such as fatal irresponsibility, collective bargaining and exploitation of the masses. Through the angst and frustration the characters face, burning questions keep the audience guessing.

Lefty is a union organizer who is scheduled to meet with the union workers to discuss life-changing options that each employee can settle on. The union’s corrupt leader Harry Fatt does everything he can to discourage it, and the