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Show 115 diplomas conferred at adult, alternative high school graduation G raduates of adult and alternative high schools in the Alpine School District were encouraged to continue con-tinue their formal education during graduation ceremonies held May 27 at Pleasant Grove Junior High School. Susan Stone, District Director of Adult Education, said 115 earned their diplomas during the current school year. These included 81 graduating from adult high school and 34 from the Mothers High School. An additional eight received their General Education Development (G.E.D) certificate, which gave them five credits toward their high school diploma. Dr. Stone urged these people to continue working toward their goal of high school graduation. She said many of the adult high schoool graduates had also completed com-pleted their G.E.D. certificate. Adult High School graduates ranged in age from 18 to 55, are parents to 110 children and have 55 grandchildren, Dr. Stone said. Many plan to continue on to receive further education, and to attend Utah Valley Community College, Brigham Young University the University of Utah, Burkley, Beauty School, Dental Assistant School or other. Two aspire to receive their doctorates doc-torates in education, Dr. Stone said. Many said getting their high school diploma will help them to obtain employment or to have job upgrades. Teacher Gaylin Rollins quoted from "Jonathan Livingston Seagull," - "One who has touched excellence in learning has no need to accept the ordinary." He urged the graduates to continue con-tinue to set goals and work to attain them. "I challenge all of you to set some goals - some short range goals, some long range goals, and work to achieve those goals," he said. He said everybody wants to learn when when they become teenagers some "think it smart to be dumb -they think they can just slide through and they sometimes discourage others from getting an education." He told the graduates their high school diploma "is a key to get you into doors that have been locked to you before." Tim Beardall, a former steel worker at Geneva and one of the graduates, said getting his diploma is the first step - a cornerstone -toward his retraining as a machinist. "I'm grateful for a second chance at education and I won't let it go," he said. Mary Clements said she has no definite plans but "I want to find out what there is out there where I can make the world a better place to be." She said when she began school last fall, she thought it would take several years to accomplish getting her diploma. She expressed appreciation to her family, especially her daughter, who helped her get through her science course. Bill Shaw, whose youngest daughter graduated from Lehi High School May 29, said he was happy to receive his diploma 36 years late. He said he wished he had gotten his education earlier in life but he went to work, got married and had a family instead of going to school. "In my day, you didn't need an education to get a job. Now days, that's not so," he said. "Next to a marriage license and an army discharge, your high school diploma is the most important paper you can get," he said. Tony Johnson expressed appreciation to the staff for the time they have put in to make his educational experience more personal. per-sonal. "I'm happy to be a graduate tonight," he said. |