Graduation held for Adult Education students

Buoyed by enthusiastic applause, 42 Adult Education and Literacy Program participants were feted as newly minted graduates at a Thursday evening ceremony at the Career and Technology Center.

Having completed their GEDs through the program, the graduates proceeded down the aisle of the multipurpose room to the strains of "Pomp and Circumstance" and were introduced by their teachers with a bit of information about themselves.

Program coordinator Becky Atwood said 90 people who had completed their GEDs were invited. "This is one of the reasons I truly love this job," she said, adding she not only gets to celebrate with the graduates, but their families as well, who comprised an audience of about 150.

Career and Technology Center director Rich Payne and Cape Girardeau school superintendent James Welker spoke at the event. Assistant superintendent for academic services Sherry Copeland joined them onstage.

Welker said he applauded the graduates for their initiative, hard work and dedication. He said he admires their accomplishment, but challenged students to continue their education.

Some of the graduates had taken the GED, or General Educational Development test, while others tackled the or high school equivalency test, which replaced the GED in January in Missouri.

Students took classes and tests in Cape Girardeau, Marble Hill, Mo., and Perryville, Mo.

Jenna Welker, mother of honors graduate Cat Shoultz, cried tears of joy after the ceremony. "I'm so proud. She did it all by herself," Welker said.

Gloria Bundy, mother of Melissa Williams, said she was "very, very, very proud" of her daughter.

"She worked very hard to get this," Bundy said, adding Williams, a mother of two, stuck to her goal.

* After being laid off from her job at NARS call center, LaShonda Hines, a mother of three, decided she needed a career. To have that, she needed a GED. She'd like to join the nursing profession.

Hines dropped out of high school in 10th grade, although she had enough credits to be a junior. She's drilled the importance of school into her children's heads.

She had tried earning a GED before and said if it wasn't for Adult Education and Literacy Program coordinator Becky Atwood, her staff and their encouragement, she wouldn't have made it.

"They lift your spirits when you come in. They make you more determined," she said. " ... They always give us encouragement" and let you know they have faith in you.

"I'm excited," Hines said, adding this had been a long time coming.

* Darlene Williams-Curry, a mother of four daughters, including twins, said she'd been waiting for this day all her life. "When I passed that test Oct. 16, I wanted to cry. Then I'm probably going to cry tomorrow," Williams-Curry said in a phone interview Wednesday.

An Air Force child, Williams-Curry quit school at 17 after going through ninth grade in three states. She is attending Metro Business College in St. Louis and said she plans to earn a bachelor's degree in computer science from Southeast Missouri State University. Williams-Curry hopes to own her own business and "be able to give somebody else a job."

She said earning her GED was the best thing she's done in her life, except for having her children. "They grew up to be some good kids," Williams-Curry said.

* Melissa Williams, a mother of two, left high school in 2007 after having her first child. Having tried other programs, she found the Adult Education and Literacy Program worked best for her, and she wants to pursue a nursing career.

Seeing how the nurses treated her sister before she died of cancer sparked Williams' desire to go into health care.

"I just [saw] how different it made her feel because she was in the hospital a lot. It made her feel good that somebody else cared about her. I want to return that favor for somebody else," Williams said.

rcampbell@semissourian.com

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