
DATE: Saturday, March 22, 1997              TAG: 9703220303

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY DENISE WATSON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   67 lines

YOUTH PASSES EXAM MANY ADULTS FAIL

On a dare by one of his adult students, instructor Dennis Freeman and three high school students from his electro-mechanical technology class took an electronics certification exam in February.

Achieving the 75 percent minimum to pass was a long shot for the Norfolk Technical Vocational Center students - the average age for taking the test is early 30s, and only 30 percent pass it the first time.

``It's equivalent to the bar exam for law students,'' Freeman, an instructor at the vocational center, said on Friday.

But Norview High School senior Katon Stephenson - who attends high school for half a day and then takes a bus to the vocational center for the other half - passed the exam. Katon and Freeman, who also passed, received their certificates in February. And, they recently were called by officials at The Electronics Technicians Associates International, which administers the exam: Seventeen-year-old Katon is the youngest, or one of the youngest, to have ever passed the Certified Electronics Technician Associates exam.

``I really didn't believe it,'' Katon said Friday. ``Not until I saw the letter.''

Freeman said he was so surprised that he asked the Indiana-based association to send him written proof. The letter detailing Katon's feat is now enlarged and taped on a wall in Freeman's class.

``And when I saw that this was international, not just national, I was really, really ecstatic,'' Freeman said.

The challenge for Katon and his peers to take the test came from an adult student in the electronics class that Freeman teaches at ECPI College of Technology in Virginia Beach. The class was discussing the ``horrors'' of the exam when a student asked: ``Do we really need this (certification)? Your high school kids are getting jobs without them.''

Some of Freeman's high school students are working through internships, but none had the certification. Freeman told his adult class: ``I can bring a high school student in here who can pass this test.''

Freeman asked his high school students who would be able to pay the $40 to take the test. Three signed on. Test takers have two hours to answer 150 questions covering several areas including basic electronics, electricity and math.

Katon finished in 70 minutes. Before Freeman.

``It wasn't that hard,'' said Katon, who passed with an 84 percent pass rate. ``I knew everything on the test.''

The other students didn't pass but missed by only six or seven percentage points. They can take a free re-test within 60 days of the exam.

The certification card Katon now carries will allow him to start off making $8 to $10 an hour out of high school when others without certification might be making up to $5, Freeman said.

``It's quite a distinction,'' said Carolyn Carson, membership director of The Electronics Technicians Associates International. ``He's a certified technician now. Employers give a lot of credence to that. He really deserves a pat on the back for that.'' ILLUSTRATION: Dennis Freeman, an electro-mechanical technology

instructor at Norfolk Technical and Vocational Center, watches as

Katon Stephenson, 17, works on a project. Katon is one of the

youngest people ever to pass the Certified Electronics Technician

Association Exam. The average age for taking the test is early 30s

and only 30 percent pass it on the first try. ``It's equivalent to

the bar exam for law students,'' said Freeman, who also took the

exam and passed.

D. KEVIN ELLIOTT

The Virginian-Pilot KEYWORDS: INTERVIEW