COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – Career education programs at Iowa Western Community College helped Richard Kleckner turn around his life after years living on the streets, abusing drugs and repeatedly getting trouble with the law. While locked up in Omaha, Kleckner decided in 2016 to stop abusing heroin and methamphetamine and instead pursue his high-school equivalence diploma. After his release, he moved to Council Bluffs and enrolled in HiSET classes through Iowa Western with financials support from IowaWORKS. “That’s how I got my foot in the door,” Kleckner said. “It gave me something to do. It got me out of the house. I felt active. I felt better for myself, and I really felt good when I passed my first test. That right there was a super huge boost to my ego and that’s when I felt like I could really do this.”

Richard Kleckner shows off the welding lab at Iowa Western Community College’s Kinney Hall in Council Bluffs on Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2018. Kleckner took a welding class through the Education 2 Employment career preparatory program and now has a job as a welder in Omaha. (Photo by Scott Stewart/Iowa Western Community College)

Kleckner said his teachers were exceptionally supportive and the small classes make sure everyone gets the attention they need. The program offers an option for self-directed HiSET preparation, too, for those students not seeking a classroom experience. “It’s basically really like a step-to-step program,” Kleckner said. “It makes getting your HiSET easy. I came in thinking, ‘Man, this is going to be really hard.’ I dropped out of school in ninth grade. I don’t know if I can do this. But then it became something that was fun. It became something that interested me that I wanted to be a part of. It was really exciting, and then once I got it, I knew that I wasn’t the person that I was labeled as being at that point. I am still in awe at everything that I have done.”

After earning his diploma, Iowa Western’s Education 2 Employment program paid for Kleckner to enroll in a welding class at the college. It paid for his books, welding boots and all other costs associated with the course – including his American Welding Society qualification test. Within a month, he landed a job as a welder for an Omaha manufacturer. He now hopes to be a role model and to continue to give back to improve the lives of others struggling with substance abuse.