Friends and families gathered in the Lincoln Theater in Damariscotta on Tuesday, June 6 to celebrate the graduation of the seven members of Central Lincoln County Adult Education class of 2023.
Serving as master of ceremonies, CLC Adult Education Director Pam Sperry credited each of the graduates for their hard work earning a high school equivalency diploma through the program.
Maine State Adult Education Director Megan Dichter, the ceremony’s special guest speaker, congratulated the graduates, saying the credentials they earned opened a world of opportunities for them.
“Adult education provides a choice for community members to be the students they need to be at that time in their lives, for whatever reason,” Dichter said. “You seven are all really well prepared for the next step, whatever that might be.”
After Mizeal Eleazar Disal Cuevas provided a musical interlude, performing the song, “The Climb,” CLC Adult Education Assistant to the Director Bonnie Merrill delivered a rousing commencement address, building on the song’s theme of climbing to success.
“Tonight is my favorite evening in all of adult education,” Merrill said. “It is a night to remember because it is bursting with the exhilaration of goals reached, the triumph of dreams fulfilled and realized, and the glory of mountains climbed … As the song says it is not about how fast you got here. It is about the very personal and deeply unique climb that got you to this summit.”
Concluding her speech, Merrill reminded the graduates the credential they earned is every bit the equal of the diplomas issued by local high schools. She pointed out that some adult education students frequently pursue their education dealing with real world challenges a traditional high school education path may not encounter.
“An adult ed graduation is a different path to graduation, but you don’t even think for a moment that it is in any way less than,” Merrill said.
Offered the chance to speak, graduates Halena Stone, Kimberly Weaver, and Maeve Townsend took turns addressing the assembled.
Stone said her academic journey was extremely challenging. The COVID-19 pandemic began during her eighth grade year, and she also had to deal with mental health and family issues, she said, although she credited her family, particularly her mother, for their support. Stone said she had always had high expectations for herself and falling behind was a very hard pill to swallow.
She formally withdrew from high school at the end of her sophomore year and began adult education last October.
“I also believe adult ed is wonderful alternative and having the ability to go at your own pace is such a gift to anybody with a life,” she said. “I am so happy I was able to have this adventure. It taught me so much about myself. I was able to prove to myself that I am not stupid and I am not lazy and I am, in fact, very capable.”
Weaver said she came to adult education having hit rock bottom in her life. Weaver said she thought she had life figured out when she was younger woman, when she was married, and she had her young children. It was only later on, she realized she did not have all the answers, she said.
“Life comes at your pretty fast,” Weaver said. “I say sorry to my mom every day for not believing her. When I walked into school, they took this mess and they worked with it … You can’t go through life without a diploma. You have to work twice as hard and when my life didn’t turn out the way I wanted it too, I really, really didn’t not want to work that hard again for the goals I had reached.”
Townsend spoke having completed her equivalency requirements around 5 p.m., roughly an hour before the ceremony’s 6 p.m. start.
“I want to say adult education is a pretty good way to go,” Townsend said. “There is always stigma around everything but it’s just a different route and we are all going to take different routes. We are not always going to fall down the hole we started down. We might jump in the other one.”
Following the graduates’ addresses, and before the awarding of credentials, Sperry delivered “Odes to the Graduates,” personalized poems she composed specifically to each graduate.
“This is my fifth graduation of Central Lincoln County’s Adult Education students,” Sperry said. “Each one has filled my heart with overwhelming joy and such pride for all the students have accomplished and tonight’s group is definitely no exception. They are remarkable. They are unique. Some of them have overcome unimaginable challenges in order to be here tonight. They are amazing, each and every one, without exception.”
