Returning to school after decades away from a classroom is never easy. For Tim Bryant, 56, and Jerry Kean, 71, their hard work is paying off. Not just in reaching their educational goals but in new friendships and a greater sense of self-worth.

Bryant lives in Rochester and Kean is from Farmington. They met in the adult education class at Dover Adult Learning Center’s Rochester location. They supported each other right from the start.

“Whatever project we were working on, we always worked together,” says Bryant. “We both helped each other. Things I couldn’t take on in my head, he’d help me.”

“We helped each other, encouraged each other,” said Kean. “Now we’re best friends. I think the world of this guy.”

Both have been taking classes to prepare to take the HISET series of exams, one of two options in NH, along with the GED, to earn a high school equivalency certificate.

Kean has completed his series of five tests and passed. He was the first of seven siblings to do so.

Bryant has one test left. The math. He considers math his ‘worst enemy.’

“Math is what has taken me so long,” says Bryant. “That’s why I saved it for last. I never did algebra in school; I never knew there were letters in math.”

Kean says they didn’t have algebra when he was in school. “I was out of school for 54 years and Jill taught me what I needed to know now.”

Both consider their teacher, Jill (Jill Hampton-McCarthy), to be a very good friend. Kean wasn’t going to attend graduation this June until they talked McCarthy into handing them their certificates on stage. Kean says he came to DALC because he needed the high school credential for a job. “I said, ‘to hell with that job’ I’m doing this for me.

Bryant says he promised his father he would get a diploma some time. “I can’t give up on this now, it is the closest I have ever been. It’s not for me or a job. It’s for my dad.”