 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Graduation comes at 16 or 62 or 75
By DONNA WINCHESTER
© St. Petersburg Times, CLEARWATER -- The men, women and children who filled Ruth Eckerd Hall to overflowing Thursday night tried hard to be patient. They shifted in their seats, called greetings to each other and snapped photos while they waited for the ceremony to begin. But when strains of Pomp and Circumstance reached their ears, they could sit still no longer. They rose to their feet and cheered as family members and friends took the stage and were honored at the Pinellas County School District's 2001 countywide graduation ceremony. Before the night was over, 246 high school graduates, ranging in age from 16 to 75, walked across the stage. Most of them were adults who were receiving a Florida high school diploma through the General Educational Development, or GED, program. Sixty-eight were high school students who had completed summer school. Nineteen graduated with honors. Two received honorary diplomas as World War II veterans. Jennifer Tolisano, 18, had excessive absences in the first semester of her senior year and failed English and economics at Boca Ciega High School. The first to admit she made bad choices, she committed herself to attending summer school four days a week, seven hours a day for four weeks to make up the work she missed. She earned an A in economics and a B in English. "When I found out I was graduating, I walked around the neighborhood in my cap and gown," she said. "I felt like I had accomplished something very great." Countywide graduation was opened up to students like Tolisano several years ago when the district wanted to give high school seniors unable to walk with their classes in June a chance to experience a graduation ceremony. But it remains primarily an event to recognize adults who receive either adult high school diplomas or high school diplomas from the state, according to Laura Sargent, the district's adult, community and work force development supervisor. Most students, Sargent said, earn a Florida high school diploma by going through a GED prep course and passing a GED test. Cecilia Sellner, 62, knows how difficult GED classes are. She didn't have much confidence in herself or her ability to study after having been away from school for 45 years, but driven by the goal of becoming a teacher's assistant at Skycrest Elementary School in Clearwater, she succeeded. She was one of four School Board employees who walked in the ceremony Thursday night. Gene Sussman, 55, was another Pinellas County schools employee who graduated. A food services department worker for five years, Sussman wanted a job with the Sheriff's Office but needed a high school diploma first. "It felt so good to finally complete my education after all these years and to have the confidence to attempt things I would previously have allowed to pass me by," he said. Thursday's graduates tell a story Sargent has heard over and over. "There's a lot of fear and nervousness about coming forward and admitting that you don't have a high school diploma. But we have excellent teachers who make people feel at home no matter how long they've been out of school."
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
From the Times South Pinellas desks |
