I Am A 2016 Graduate, And I Am So Excited

*Please click the image above to start the short video.

Since coming to Southeast Ministry in January 2014, Linda has been continuously adding to her list of accomplishments.

Linda recently passed her CASAS test and enrolled at Roosevelt STAY High School in NW.

As of late, Linda has more exciting news, “I recently graduated, June 13th, at Roosevelt Senior High School, so I am a 2016 graduate, and I am so excited about that!”

“There was a point in time where I didn’t know if I was going to be able to do it,” Linda shared. “But one day I happened to see Ms. Valarie, not knowing who she was, I was the last person in the room. She waked through, we made eye contact, she smiled and said, ‘this is what I am talking about, dedication!’ Through everything I was going through, I still remained, I pushed myself and made myself stay here.”

During her time at SEM, Linda was very visible. There were times when she would be here a full day, working diligently on 3 or 4 different subject matters.

“SEM allowed me to use their computers. I would stay almost 6, 7, or 8 hours a day. I would not even realize how long I’d been there, until a staff member would say, ‘Linda, it’s 4 o’clock.’ I was like, ‘Really, already?’ It takes time to do all of that work, you can’t Google it, you can’t shortcut it.”

Now that Linda has graduated, she has plans to continue her education.

“I’m going to enroll at UDC in the fall, I am undecided as to which subject I will study, but I will continue to learn. To anyone who is thinking of doing the same, just remember, it’s up to you. Do you want it? How bad do you want it?”

We applaud Linda’s effort since first coming to SEM, and are thrilled that she encourages other adult learners to use education as a pathway to self-sufficiency.

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