RAS Student Spotlight: Anthony New

Anthony’s dream for years has been to build helicopters in the U.S. Navy. A dream for which he would need a GED. Anthony had previously struggled with focusing on his studies, getting overwhelmed by trying to study all four subjects at once. Sometimes the sense of overwhelm built into depression, and he would stop attending Adult School for periods of time. But starting in the Spring of 2024 Anthony’s progress accelerated. He passed one GED subject, and the success gave him momentum to start tackling the subject he was most concerned about: math.

​Anthony began working with Josh McCrohan to rebuild the math skills he had forgotten since high school. He came to tutoring consistently, and made slow but steady progress. While he built math skills, he decided to continue his momentum by passing the subjects in which he had more confidence. Anthony says that focusing on his goal of joining the Navy kept him going, even when the progress felt slow. Josh helped him learn to chunk the work into manageable pieces, a skill which he will continue to use as he trains for his career.

In the Fall Anthony passed Science, and in early 2025 English. All the while Anthony and Josh had been steadily chipping away at Math, until Anthony finally passed it in plenty of time to graduate and join a Boot Camp this summer. He says he is both relieved and invigorated to have reached this milestone, but he’s already planning for the next steps in his life. He’s so grateful to Josh and the other staff at Ramona Adult School who helped give him the tools to reach his dreams.