Thanks to Temple’s Adult Basic Lifelong Learning Education program, 25 community members are the area’s newest high school graduates.

On June 30, several of the graduates participated in a graduation ceremony in Mitten Hall’s Great Court that recognized their attainment of the General Equivalency Diploma (GED) as well as the effort of 40 other students who have passed three of the five tests necessary to receive the diploma.

In Temple tradition, School of Social Work interim chair Bernie Newman offered remarks recognizing the students’ success and acknowledging the support of the more than 200 family members and friends in the audience. Will Jordan, director of the Institute of Schools of Society, encouraged the graduates to continue to pursue their dreams.

“I have struggled for so long to achieve my goals — of gaining my GED Diploma and continuing my education,” said Bethcodishene Laidlow, a graduate who received a special award for excellence. “Now that I have accomplished the first step, I will not stop.”

The students were part of Temple’s Adult Basic Lifelong Learning Education program, a collaborative effort of the College of Health Professions and Social Work’s Center for Social Policy and Community Development and the College of Education’s Institute for Schools and Society. Funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, the program offers a full range of instructional services to help individuals obtain a secondary school credential, while developing skills necessary to find and keep family-sustaining employment or to enter post-secondary institutions.

For more information about the program, call Ulicia Lawrence, CSPCD Program Coordinator, at 215-204-2560.