CARIBOU, Maine — A second chance at a better life came in the form of a HiSET diploma at the Caribou Learning Center on May 19, 2015.
Students of the RSU 39 Eastern Aroostook Adult and Community Education program sat in a classroom at the learning center that day. Some waited for their gowns to get ironed and others chatted with friends before their graduation ceremony.
Graduates Samantha Plummer-Morgan and Levon Francis, dressed in their caps and gowns, cradled their 7-week-old baby Alexandria. Plummer-Morgan and Francis are after more opportunities, not just for them, but also for their daughter. Now that they have their diplomas they can move on to college.
“We wanted to prove to everyone that we could do it,” Plummer-Morgan said. She wants to go to college and major in criminal justice and her boyfriend Francis would like to someday become a corporate lawyer. After graduating they can put not finishing high school behind them and focus on their futures.
For various reasons not everyone has the opportunity to finish high school. The students at this year’s ceremony agreed that their time in Adult Ed would lead them to better jobs.
Leah McEwen plans to get a job at McCain Foods in Easton. She wants a better life for her and her daughter, “She comes first,” she said.
Having been out of school for a number of years and then deciding to go back can be downright terrifying, but the graduates said their experience at the learning center “wasn’t bad.”
“It’s an open, caring environment,” director of Adult Ed Danny MacDonald said. “It’s a challenging experience, but rewarding.” MacDonald stressed that the Learning Center is a comfortable place for adults to learn.
After high school, whether a person dropped out or not, they have to find a way to survive, and finding the time to work on a dream isn’t always easy.
“Anyone who balances what they do to get their diploma, they are to be commended,” RSU 39 Superintendent Susan White said.
Passing the HiSET exam is one piece of a larger puzzle. “This is just their fist step along that journey,” MacDonald said.
To celebrate the graduates’ accomplishments guest speakers U.S. Army veteran and former principal of New Sweden School, Bernard Ayotte, and student speaker Chana Yagod, former graduate of the Adult Ed program, were on hand to say a few kind words. Later on in the ceremony HiSET 3000 recipient Courtney Walsh was also a student speaker.
Recipients of the HiSET 3000 awards were Nicholas Bailey, Michael Coventry, Jonathan Cuetara, Devin Doughty, Benjamin Fuller, Samantha Goddard, Justin Hodgkin, Lucas Oliveira, Christopher Paradis, Erin Patton, Dean Penney, Michael Richards, Abigail Royer, Jane Shafer, Tim Shaw, Christopher Skidgel, Zachary Still, William Tucker and Courtney Walsh.
Unable to attend the event was this year’s recipient of the Director’s Award Logan McPherson.
Not all of the graduates plan to stay in The County – they have “big plans.” As the saying goes “knowledge is power” and now that these graduates have the upper hand on their direction in life each day has the chance of getting better and better.
