Adult residents of St. Paul's East Side who want to catch up on learning can do it closer to home.

The school district has opened an adult education center, the East Side Learning Hub @ Harding, to give people an opportunity to earn a GED and learn English without having to travel to sites across town.

A grand opening event is being held at the hub at 1526 E. 6th St. at 4 p.m. Thursday.

Fall classes are underway.

The center, built at a cost of about $1.5 million, offers adult basic education classes in three sessions during the day and night. The hub also houses an evening high school program to help students earn course credits for graduation. Age and eligibility requirements vary.

For more information about adult basic education, go to: hubbs.spps.org.

To learn more about the evening high school, go to: ehs.spps.org.

Community education programming, including driver's education, also is available.

The learning hub is among several district projects new to the East Side this fall. Others include the expansion of Montessori programming and the splitting of a French language immersion program into two campuses.