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Pittsfield Adult Learning Center Graduates 40
By Andy McKeever, iBerkshires Staff
12:48AM / Thursday, June 16, 2016
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Don Ross doubled down on his work and was able to complete his program in just eight weeks.


A total of 40 students received certificates on Wednesday. More photos can be found here.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Today is your day and you will not allow anyone or anything to ruin it.
 
Ritza Fernandez stood at the podium in the auditorium in Crosby Elementary School on Wednesday night in front of a families, friends, and the graduating Pittsfield Adult Learning Center class.
 
Repeat after me, she said, "today is your day and you will not allow anyone or anything to ruin it."
 
For Fernandez nothing was going to hold her back. She never got her high school diploma and instead spent the last 12 years raising her four children. But last February she got in her head that she wanted to get her high school equivalency. She took control in setting goals and planning for the future.
 
On Wednesday some of those goals were reached.
 
"Today, this moment, started with an idea, a vision, a need to continue our education. And because we push forward we were able to accomplish our graduation," Fernandez said. 
 
The students all had different stories, from an immigrant trying to bring his family to a safer country, to parents, to those whom the traditional high school setting didn't work. What they have in common, though, is that each one walked in or called the adult learning center on their own volition.
 
"All of our graduates need to be commended for making a full commitment to changing the course of their lives. This is no easy undertaking because it requires moving past the fear of the unknown. The first step on moving forward on life's requirements is to identify our fears and what is holding us back. Many of the students entering the adult learning center fear failure or they fear success or a combination of both," Director Paul Gage said. 
 
Lorraine Akor had a fear of math. She couldn't get it and failed tests. But, after trying multiple times she finally passed.
 
"She first identified her fear and acknowledged that it was holding her back from completing her HiSET [high school equivalency test]," Gage said. "In the end, she realized that it really comes down to hard work. So Lorraine studied every day, using every available math resource. She used her teachers to get there in whatever way. After failing the math test multiple times, Lorraine finally passed on Jan. 6, 2016."
 
Gage asked the students to identify and acknowledge their fear because "in doing so, this will always lead to a better version of you." 
 
The class was the 40th in the center's history providing students with high school equivalency and adult diplomas. Superintendent of Schools Jason McCandless calls it the best graduation in the school system because he knows each student in the class got there through determination.
 
"Each one of you looked yourself in the mirror and said 'I am worth the work. I am worth the hours. I am worth facing my fears. I am worth the dedication. I am worth the hassle. I am worth creating this opportunity for myself," McCandless. "That spirit that has taken you this far will take you wherever you want to go."
 
He quoted Barry Switzer in saying it is amazing how many people were born on third base but they go through life thinking they hit a triple. To put that is other terms, McCandless said a certain presidential candidate claims to have pulled himself up by the bootstraps but was educated in private schools, put through college, and then starting life with $2 million in a trust fund. There are many people who don't recognize the opportunities that were granted to them, McCandless said, and that's why he has respect for those in the adult learning center.
 

Ritza Fernandez told her classmates to celebrate the day and never let others hold them back.
"There are people who have to make their own opportunities and I can tell you the people who make their own opportunities, the people who look themselves in the mirror and say 'I don't care what the people behind be say, I don't care what the people to the side of me say, I know I am worth a second chance," McCandless said.
 
Getting through the program wasn't easy. It didn't start easy when the students had to build the courage to pick up the phone and inquire about it and it wasn't easy to get through it.
 
"There were probably many days when you were sure if you could get to class but you got there. I'm willing to bet there were tests you never thought you'd pass or math you thought you'd never understand. Or work you never thought you'd get done. But you did," School Committee Chairwoman Yon said.
 
A total of 40 students graduated the program this year.
 
"I'm sure all of the challenges you faced were different. But, I do know that all of these challenges were major obstacles for each and every one one you. Whether it was your family obligations, your work obligations, maybe you needed to work two jobs or multiple other obligations. We need to remember that each of these took you time and attention and you needed to find balance to ensure that you succeeded in your educational goals that you chose to do, you yourself chose to do and not like the obligations in your life," City Council President Peter Marchetti said.
 
And getting through it matters. Tina Schettini received her general equivalency diploma through the program, when it was housed in the Mercer Building, in 1986. She went onto four years of college and now works as a senior special program coordinator. Schettini says most people wouldn't even know she had graduated in an atypical high school setting.
 
"It doesn't matter we are going to go great places because of who we are individually not because of the certificate or the place that it originated. This is really when you journey begins and you are going to do great things," Schettini said.
 
The ceremony included balloons and cheers from families and friends of the graduates as they received their certificates from Yon. 
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