A new chapter began for 21 students from the Golden Triangle and beyond, with the East Mississippi Community College Launch Pad Commencement Thursday night.
After varying periods of study, the students received their GED certificates surrounded by supportive family, friends and teachers. The keynote speaker was Zach Scruggs of 2nd Chance Mississippi, an organization devoted to awareness and promotion of adult education in Mississippi. Zach Scruggs and his father Dickie Scruggsfounded the organization after both served time in prison on judicial bribery charges.
The graduates included: Anthony Bishop, Thomas Brown, John A. Clark, Stephanie N. Clark, Brandi Dempsey, Tyler Shaw Elliott,James Adam Enis, Thomas Flores, Haleigh Gazaway, Sheila Marie Guyton, Justin B. Harrison, Roger L. Jones, Karl N. Mast, Gracie Murphy, Abraham Niswonger, Chinesa Ja’nae Ross, Quez Stephenson, ReErica Tumblin, Gerald Williams Jr. Emily Suzanne Wilson and Tes Wilson.
It only took Jones, a resident of Maben two-and-a-half weeks to complete hisGED requirements and pass the test. However, his story begins much earlier. In 2003, as a senior in high school, Jones was arrested on drug charges and spent a total of eight years behind bars. After his release, Jones started a family before coming to theLaunch Pad.
Jones, a father of four daughters with another on the way said it was difficult to put the experience of graduating with his GED certificate into words.
“It’s been so long, with all the heartache and disappointment I put my family through, not just my mom, but my sisters,” Jones said. “I started reading when I wasthree years old, and they had so many high expectations for me, and to not graduate after my mom had already paid for everything, and not being able to graduate. She was a single mom taking care of five kids on her own.”
He said everyone in the GED program was welcoming and supportive, especially after they saw his academic ability.
“Every day I live with disappointment, and I always try to find out what I can do today, every day to try to show (my mother) I appreciate everything she ever did for me, not only for me, but my sisters and my kids,” Jones said. “That’s one thing I know she’d be proud of me doing is my GED. Nobody made me. Nobody told me. I got up on my own."
Jones hopes to someday attend law school, and also completed his Workkeys certification. In addition to his family, he also acknowledged the support of his church family and EMCC Launch Pad staff.
It took Tumblin, a resident of West Point much longer to finish her certificate, with more than a decade overall working toward it. She credited her children with supporting her in her GED journey.
“I want to thank my children for asking me every morning ‘Mama, are you going to school?,”Tumblin said. “I would say ‘yeah,’ and I’d see a little smile on their face,and that’d touch me. NowI’m going to keep on going.”
Tumblin has also completed her Workkeys, and plans on becoming a certified nursing assistant.
Zach Scruggs called the graduates his “heroes”, and encouraged them to consider attitude and aptitude in their futures.
“That’s my definition of a hero, doing something hard that you don’t have to do, making and following through on a commitment you don’t have to make ” Zach Scruggs said. “That’s great. That’s courage. That’s being a hero.”