With Perseverance, 145 Graduate Adult Ed

While flaunting a pink-gem-encrusted graduation cap reading ​“Mommy Did It!,” seventeen-year-old Zamirah Jackson crossed the stage Thursday to get her high school diploma from the New Haven Adult Education Center — never forgetting the long journey of balancing motherhood with accomplishing her academic goals. 

Jackson was one of 145 New Haven Adult Ed graduates honored at Thursday’s ceremony, which was held in the John Lyman Center for the Performing Arts on the campus of Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU).

Students were celebrated for years of dedication to attaining their high school diplomas, U.S citizenships, or completing the ESOL Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) Program. 

The celebration’s line up of speakers congratulated the students and their families for reaching this milestone. Speakers highlighted how the grads, ranging from ages 17 to 60, all did so while juggling challenging life obstacles like parenthood, working full time, and/or medical issues. 

New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) Supt. Madeline Negrón said that 65 percent of Thursday’s Adult Ed graduates currently have children of their own who are students attending NHPS. ​“What a wonderful message you are sending to our students by your accomplishments. It is never too late to work towards your dreams,” she said. 

Throughout Thursday’s celebration students suited up in caps and gowns and called out from the crowd, ​“We did it!” 

Although Jackson enjoyed attending Hillhouse High School over the past three years, she found she just couldn’t continue her studies in a traditional high school environment after having her son last summer. She received her high school diploma Thursday despite her high school journey being what she described as a rollercoaster.

During her first two years of high school, Jackson suffered from an auto-immune problem that made it difficult to keep up with school. Then she got pregnant in the middle of her junior year and decided it would be best to transfer to Adult Ed to finish out her diploma requirements. She enrolled at Adult Ed in October and began her journey as a full-time student and mom while also running her own hair styling business.

“I’m impressed with myself every day. I am superwoman,” she declared Thursday.

While she missed Hillhouse, she said Adult Ed courses worked better for her as a new mom. ​“I was happy. The classes were shorter. I got to go back to my baby,” she said.

This year Adult Ed served over 1,600 students across all of its programs. 

“It’s so exciting. There are such powerful emotions because the work is real,” Principal Michelle Bonora said. ​“And today, we changed the trajectories of students’ lives, not just for them, but their families, and…our community.”

Thursday’s ceremony highlighted the experiences of three graduates in particular who shared about the obstacles they overcame to get to graduation.

Former High School in the Community student Mi-Kerria Shaw decided to take the route of Adult Ed after having a baby at age 15. The loss of her school community caused her to go through a deep depression. However, with the support of the Adult Ed staff, she delivered on her promise to her now two daughters to get her high school diploma. Shaw reminded the Thursday crowd that no matter how long the journey takes, ​“it’s never about the when you’ll finish, it’s about the win in the end.” 

GED student Christine Stewart-Davis began her Adult Ed journey in 2018. A year later she was ​“delivered the worse news of my life” which was a breast cancer diagnosis that caused her to drop out of school. She said if it wasn’t for the several Adult Ed staff that convinced her to re-enroll she would not have crossed Thursday’s stage. 

The ceremony also celebrated more than a dozen ESL students who received their U.S citizenship and CNA certifications with the help of Adult Ed’s ESOL programming. 

This year, Principal Bonora said, Adult Ed had more than 1200 students from over 80 countries enrolled in the ESOL program. 

Bonora also congratulated the students for making it through Adult Ed’s recent building flood that caused its classes to go remote for three months.

“The instant switch to virtual brought some traumatic experience back from Covid,” Bonora said. ​“But it’s a real testament to our team that they didn’t give up.”

Kiarra Davis, 19, who also graduated on Thursday, originally was meant to be in the class of 2023. However she became overwhelmed with the responsibilities of fitting school in her life at the time. Now, a year later, Davis is back on track, graduating with a high school diploma. Next to her, Davis’s mother stood with camera in hand. She graduated from the institution just three years prior. 

“My mom was able to go back to school with seven kids. I know that it’s possible for me to do it,” Davis said. ​“Just a year later, I’m where I should have been and it just feels so good. It’s only bigger and better from here.”

Davis, who currently works with autistic children, wants to continue working in social services.

Samantha Murray, who turns 20 this Saturday, was just two classes shy of receiving her high school diploma. She returned to school to finish up the remaining two requirements — an English and a civics class. She noted that she wanted to finish her education for her two children: a two year old and an eleven month old. Murray wants to pursue a career in manufacturing through training with Manufacturing and Technical Community Hub (MATCH).

“For adult education, we’re given a second opportunity to graduate,” Murray said. ​“I’m just so thankful.”

Looking to the future, Bonora said that the school is planning to expand numerous services. It plans to broaden its educational programming this summer and next fall to include paraprofessional training in partnership with NHPS, expand its CNA opportunities for students in all programs, establish a new digital literacy initiative to help students build necessary digital skills, and expand its manufacturing pre-apprenticeship program.