During our Chittenden County Learning Center graduation celebration earlier this fall, Genesis shared her journey of resilience and determination. Her speech reminds us that every step toward education is a step toward new possibilities:
“Hello, my name is Genesis. I’d like to start off by thanking the VAL staff for being so supportive and helpful to every student who comes through their doors. I remember the first day I came into VAL because I finally felt ready to get my diploma. I remember being nervous and thinking I might not be able to fit it into my busy schedule. I was working full-time to pay my bills.
Prior to VAL, at my previous high school, I had worked so hard to graduate a year early. I was doubling up on classes whenever I could and taking honors classes. Sometimes life happens, and I had to transfer schools partway through my sophomore year, which uprooted my plans of graduating early. The school I transferred to had different graduation requirements, which would have forced me to retake classes I had already passed. By the time my junior year rolled around, I was taking freshman year classes over again. I was told my letter grades did not prove I was proficient based on their new grading system, so graduating early wasn’t going to happen. I didn’t want to start over, and I found this highly discouraging because I had already worked so hard to accomplish my goals, so I stepped away from traditional high school.
When I finally came into VAL to discuss enrollment with Ethan, it felt so refreshing to be taking the steps necessary to get back on track and earn my diploma. Especially because I had worked so hard to get to this point, and I felt like my hard work was finally going to pay off. My time at VAL was a positive experience. Some of the classes were fun, and being able to incorporate my interests into projects to earn credit was one of my personal highlights at VAL, also the convenience of taking classes online from home made getting my diploma possible again.
Outside of completing all the credit requirements, the biggest struggle for me was the TABE test. As I’m sure many of you get nervous about testing. I do, too. This made it hard to focus on what I had learned in class and apply that knowledge to the test. Because of the assistance from the teachers here at VAL, getting through the TABE assessments became possible. As you can probably tell, I was able to overcome this challenge and graduate with you all tonight.
I would like to congratulate everyone graduating today. We all worked so hard to be here. As I plan for my future, I am reassured that having my diploma will open doors for me to explore college courses or tech school, or a number of other possibilities. No matter what I choose for my next endeavor I am confident that I have the tools to succeed. Thank you to everyone who was able to attend tonight, and a big shout-out to all the graduates!!
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Can you help learners like Genesis usher in new beginnings with a gift to VAL?