Before Thursday, June 14, Angela B. was the only one of her
mother’s nine children not to have graduated from high school. Walking across
the stage to finally receive her diploma at the
Academy of Hope graduation
ceremony, her smile said all her family needed to know. “I told my mom that
instead of saying eight of your children have a high school diploma, now you
can say that all nine of them have one,” she said. Now, Angela plans to continue her education
with the goal of becoming a substance abuse counselor.
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| Angela poses for her graduation portrait. |
Angela was
in good company at the ceremony, held in Crawford Hall in North East, DC. In an
auditorium crowded with proud graduates, their beaming family members and a
whole network of support in the Academy of Hope staff and volunteer faculty,
everyone had a reason to be proud. Introducing the graduates, Executive Director,
Lecester Johnson, quoted the Shel Silverstein poem “Woulda-Coulda-Shouda,” in
which “…those Woulda-Coulda-Shouldas/All ran away and hid/From that one little
Did.”
“Standing
in front of me are a whole bunch of ‘Dids,’” Johnson said. It was not an easy
road for a lot of the graduates here tonight…and it is one thing to say ‘I
‘woulda coulda shoulda’ done it’, it’s another thing to have actually
succeeded.”
As each student was introduced and was
presented withtheir diploma, there were plenty of success stories to go around.
Twenty-four of the 27 graduates were
present to walk across the stage to receive their GED certificates or high
school diplomas. The
audience heard from graduate Antonette R., who remembered returning to her
classes at Strive for Success, the
STRIVE DC-Academy of Hope joint youth-focused GED program, a mere two days
after giving birth to her son. She was getting ready to go to class on the day
her contractions began, but soon realized that she would have to go to the
hospital. “The first thing I did…was call my teachers from the hospital to tell
them I can’t make it,” she said. She had her baby and went right back to studying
– she was determined to not let anything get in the way of her obtaining her
high school diploma.
For Mary C.,
graduating from Academy of Hope with her high school diploma after 17 years of
hard work means that she can get back on track with a career in child
development or education—a plan that has been on her radar for a while. “I’ve
always wanted to do that,” she said. She had worked with preschoolers before and
the fact that she didn’t have her high school diploma held her back. Now, armed with one following her long
awaited and well deserved graduation from Academy of Hope, she’s looking
forward to continuing her education at the University of DC and eventually
working in childhood development.
Throughout
the evening, the smiles kept coming. Anthony J. accepted his diploma after
being named the ‘social butterfly’ by his presenter. Four students received attendance
awards for their dedication to coming to class and Tony Y. received the “I Can
Fly” award for his hard work in class and great help outside the classroom. Several
other students received the industry recognized Internet and Computer Core
Certification (IC3) certificates, which will greatly help them in their further
pursuits of either college or a job. Eugene
Thompson, a former volunteer, opened the ceremony with a passionate
take on “You Raise Me Up.”
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| June 2012 Academy of Hope graduates with Executive Director, Lecester Johnson. |
“This day means the fulfillment of
so many dreams,” Academy of Hope’s co-founder, Marja Hilfiker said. Whether it
means closure after a lifetime of striving for a high school diploma or the
extra boost that a young person needed to get to college, for the students,
teachers and families at the graduation, Thursday was more than a day to
celebrate their achievements. It was the beginning of a lifetime full of
continued success.
By Martha
Shanahan, volunteer writer for Academy of Hope
