{"id":11271,"date":"2023-06-07T10:44:39","date_gmt":"2023-06-07T14:44:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/?p=11271"},"modified":"2023-06-07T10:57:10","modified_gmt":"2023-06-07T14:57:10","slug":"adult-learning-center-honors-its-new-cohort-of-ged-graduates-ready-to-activate-their-educational-career-potential","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/adult-learning-center-honors-its-new-cohort-of-ged-graduates-ready-to-activate-their-educational-career-potential\/","title":{"rendered":"Adult Learning Center honors its new cohort of GED graduates ready to activate their educational career potential"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0-Svetla Tomanova<\/em><\/p>\n

Since its inception in the 1960s, the Adult Learning Center has consistently demonstrated a strong commitment to adult education and celebrated its graduates. The last week of May marked the 37th<\/sup> General Educational Development (GED) recognition ceremony and the first in person since 2019.<\/p>\n

The special ceremony was held at the Renaissance Academy, where over 30 graduates proudly walked across the stage \u2013 embarking on the next phase of their journeys. In the midst of the applause and excitement, family, friends, School Board and faculty members captured the heartfelt moments, some with tears of joy. For some graduates, this milestone was a long time coming. Superintendent Dr. Aaron Spence also came to honor the remarkable accomplishments of the GED graduates, who have overcome obstacles to achieve this educational goal.<\/p>\n

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Marsades Edwards, GED recipient, said, \u201cNow, my future looks bright. I got this, so can you.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cMy life is moving forward with my GED in hand,\u201d said Marsades Edwards, GED recipient. \u201cI knew without a shadow of a doubt that completing my education was the key to reaching greater physical, mental, and financial stability and ultimately making me a better person. My teachers and classmates not only provided a safe zone for me to learn, but they also became my family.\u201d<\/p>\n

The keynote address was delivered by Staci Martin, a School Board member, who had also earned a GED certificate and encouraged the graduates to continue pursuing their dreams and aspirations, and unlock their potentials no matter the obstacles they may face.<\/p>\n

\u201cAchievement unlocked but think how you are going to level up,\u201d Martin said. \u201cYour GED is a key that unlocks so many possibilities. We all took a different path to get to this place. And many of you overcame a lot to get here. So many paths are open to you. You can become doctors, senators, teachers, School Board members, park rangers \u2013 you just accomplished the first step in that journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following the keynote speakers, the certificate presentation commenced \u2013 marking the culmination of the long-awaited moment for the graduates.<\/p>\n

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Andrew Grice\u2019s performance of the song \u201cThe Climb.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cYou shared not only your time with us but your hearts and stories,\u201d said Elizabeth Herlong, coordinator of adult academic programs. \u201cYou are the reason why we love to come to school and do what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the celebration, Thalia Lions Club awarded scholarships to two students who will be attending Tidewater Community College: Brittani McLaughlin ($1,000) and Michael Hernandez ($500).<\/p>\n

The ceremony also featured an inspiring performance by Andrew Grice, a nephew of one of the teachers, of the song \u201cThe Climb\u201d by Jessi Alexander and Jon Mabe.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow that you have your GED your educational career potential is ready to be activated,\u201d added Martin.<\/p>\n

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Dressed in academic regalia, graduates walked across the stage to receive their certificates.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Keynote address by School Board member Staci Martin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0-Svetla Tomanova Since its inception in the 1960s, the Adult Learning Center has consistently demonstrated a strong commitment to adult education and celebrated its graduates. The last week […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":11275,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11271"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11284,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11271\/revisions\/11284"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vbcpsblogs.com\/core\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}