Seventy GED Students "Walk"

Seventy GED/HSED students "walked" on Wednesday. I don't mean "walked" in a bad way as if the students stormed out of a classroom as a programmed flash mob. I mean "walked" as in "proudly," "momentously," and "at long last" parading across a graduation stage, receiving ovations from college leadership and faculty, and soaking in the tears and cheers of family and friends.

Before the annual GED/HSED graduation at the school, graduates in caps and tassels, royal blue gowns and gold honor cords waited nervously in the Executive Dining room a few doors down from the stage entry. I visited with students I knew, as did other faculty, reminiscing with them and posing for photos. I was very happy to see five of my students from Oconto Falls and three from Shawano make the trip to Green Bay for the ceremony. Most students don't. The 70 students who lined up were just a fraction of more than 400 students who completed the GED/HSED series during the past year. That's too bad. All of the completers did the work. I wish more would allow themselves to enjoy this moment of triumph.

They should not take their GED/HSED accomplishment lightly. Given strong representation on Wednesday by college trustees, the college president and vice-president of learning, other vps and leadership, the college certainly takes their graduation seriously. We all know this credential represents an academic milestone for students who had -- to be perfectly honest -- failed the first time around. Each student had his or her own reasons why they dropped out of high school. On Wednesday, those reasons were not really important. What was important and what all of us were celebrating, was that they did come back to school, studied hard, balanced work and family with school, and, finally, finally, achieved their high school credential.

Marathoner, journalist and author, Amby Burfoot, spoke of such dogged perseverance when he wrote, "To get to the finish line, you'll have to try lots of different paths." There was one common goal that all these students achieved as they walked across the stage, a GED/HSED credential, but there were as many different paths to that common goal as there were students who were doing the "walking." These are the first few steps that they will take toward another marathon journey, lifelong learning, but no need to worry about that right now. The graduates have proven that they can succeed when they do the work. On Wednesday, it was time for them to hold their head high and proudly walk.