Celebrating milestones: Students honored for coming back to finish
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on May 8, 2016 1:45 AM
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News-Argus/ALAN CAMPBELL
Tekela Thompson, right, and Alaina Smith, second from right, smile after turning their tassels with their classmates Friday during the Wayne Community College Adult High School and High School Equivalency Commencement Exercise at the college.
Sam Singleton dropped out of high school at age 16.
He didn't give up on education, though, attending classes at Wayne Community College for two years.
"I thought I knew everything, you know how that story goes," he said. "Back then, as long as you worked you could get a job.
"Times have changed. (That) doesn't work any more."
Now 33 and a married father of two children, 9 and 6, he has learned much.
"They have been my motivation to come back (to school). I decided to come back when my son started kindergarten and within three months, I have graduated," he said Friday morning before taking the stage to speak and receive his adult high school equivalency diploma at WCC.
That piece of paper will make all the difference, he said. In fact, it already has.
"There are doors that have opened that were not open previously," he said. "I have been trying the past two years to get a job and could not get anything -- 'You don't have a high school diploma.' 'You don't have a GED.' 'I would love to hire you but I can't.'"
The very first job interview he went on after completing the high school equivalency requirements, Singleton said he was hired.
"It's been a whole new world for me," he said, crediting his wife, Amanda, and children, Reva and Ryan, as well as his mother and his church with being supportive.
"It took me 13 years to get back in here but it's worth it," he said, adding, 'It lets me know, it reaffirms the fact that your children watch what you do. You dictate your children's future.
"I have seen firsthand .... I have noticed that (my daughter's) grades have picked up."
Bryan Aguilar and Antonio Monserrate also admitted to feeling "accomplished" on graduation day.
Aguilar was among the 33 Adult High School graduates, while Monserrate was among the 181 high school equivalency program grads.
Heni Butterfield actually earned his diploma in 1995 in Indonesia. An Air Force spouse, she watched as her husband continued his education, earning a bachelor's and then master's degree. When he mentioned being interested in pursuing his doctorate, she spoke up.
"It's my turn," she said.
A glitch with transcripts forced her to retrace familiar steps to get her high school equivalency. Despite that, she admitted it was the "best decision I ever made."
"The first day I signed up for everything, I cried," she said.
Her husband and 20-year-old son were unable to attend the ceremony, as both are deployed -- to Guatemala and Bahran, respectively. The 39-year-old also has an 8-year-old son, Slade.
"I was so nervous at first," she admitted. "But now I'm so glad. This is for me, for myself. I want to be proud of myself."
Hilda Roxana Castro, originally from Peru, arrived to the U.S. in 2006, unable to speak English.
"I was working but I still spoke Spanish," she said. "It's so frustrating.
"When I realized my son was starting kindergarten and giving me homework, I didn't understand. I have got to know this. This is my country, too."
She learned of the opportunity at WCC, taking advantage of the high school equivalency program and also juggling English-as-a-Second-Language. In 2013, she also received her citizenship.
Now, the 37-year-old hopes to continue her education, with an eye toward the health care field.
"It's my dream to be an artist and paint because I know that but I need a job," she said, adding. "My son is so smart. I'm so proud of him. I want him to be proud of me, too."
Alaina Smith, 18, began the adult high school program two years ago, just hoping to keep pace with her counterparts and graduate at the same time.
"It's been great. I came out here when I was 16, just because I had moved around a lot," she said.
Juggling her 8-month-old daughter proved a challenge, she said, but the teachers were very helpful and she was able to take online courses.
"I'm proud that I finished," she said. "Everybody's always told me that education is something no one can take away from you."
Aneesha LaFleur, 21, received the Penny Nelson Memorial Scholarship, an honor bestowed on a special student. The wife of a senior airman and mother of a 3-year-old son, Shia, she quickly completed her high school courses, earning a 3.75 grade-point average, and plans to pursue EMT training in the fall.
"I didn't even know about this program until three months ago," she said. "It was a little stressful but Starbucks helped a lot."
In addition to Singleton, the second student speaker was Naty Piedra-Macedo. She had dropped out of school after middle school, before moving to the U.S. with her family.
She shared how she got a job working at a tobacco warehouse with her father and later continued working in the fields with her husband before becoming the mother of two.
"When I had my first child, I thought, 'well, now my dreams of going back to school are totally over,'" she said.
When her marriage ended, she realized just how important an education was in securing a future for herself and her children. That proved to be her wake-up call.
"When I found out that Wake Technical Community College had partnered with WCC to bring the HEP program to Goldsboro, I was super excited," she said. "I could finally earn my high school equivalency diploma, in my native language and by coming to class just two times a week."
The occasion marking the end of one chapter and the beginning of another was also shared by WCC President, Dr. Kay Albertson, who is retiring Aug. 1 after 19 years at the WCC, nine as president.
"It is bittersweet, this retirement thing," she said. "But as many wise people have said, endings are actually beginnings."
She told the audience she has several plans of her own, but getting "stale" is not among them.
Her challenge for the graduates was to make it a step toward another beginning.
"Do not let this graduation end your education and your training, but make it one large exclamation point in your life," she said.