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RSU14 2023 Adult Ed Graduation Ceremony

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RSU14 2023 Adult Ed Graduation Ceremony

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I think they did a great job for only having practice for about 5 minutes before you all came in tonight so give me a round of applause I shop graduate welcome my name is Tom Nash the director of adult education for rc-14 graduates family friends and I to guess Welcome to our 2023 graduation I'd like to take a moment to recognize the adult education Advisory Board the school board members Town officials are state legislators rsu14 staff and of course the adult education staff without all of these wonderful people working together committed to the success of our students we wouldn't be here today we please give them all around of applause I also have a few people that I just like to record thank you to our staff members Spencer Allison Susan collie and Sheryl Paradis for designing a beautiful program tonight thank you to see Jay pain or Auditorium manager for running the lights in the Sounds in setting this up for us every year Gary Gary Harriman the rsu14 videographer for recording tonight's ceremony and I'm sure that will be posted at some point down the road so we'll get a chance to see that for those I could not make it tonight and also for April 11th for capturing this important event through photos finally my sincere gratitude goes out to Kathy giuffre brno are adult basic education coordinator and Jessica trimmer are College and Career access coordinator who both do an amazing job welcoming connecting with and supporting our graduates in their academic Journey one which has brought them again to this moment so welcome to all gathered here tonight I'm sure you will all enjoy the celebration of learning and sharing congratulating all of the grass it's for their accomplishments and remember graduates this is just your first step on your own unique path to endless opportunities thank you and you also can follow along with the program do you want and then it this time we are going to play the national anthem so if you could please stand and for the gentleman if you could please remove your caps thank you and we have to give kudos that's the United States Army band version of the national anthem I'm glad we're able to use that at this time I'd like to welcome Jimmy Butler to the podium to give how much are leaving marks good evening to all of you has Tom introduced my name is Jenny Butler and I'm one of nine members of the Wyndham Raymond rsu14 School Board we offer our sincere congratulations to graduates it's okay I've been an educator for Many Men ears and students often ask for advice when I tell them and their parents friends and family is that each student needs to figure out their own path in life it's okay for students to change their mind and try something new please take this diploma and do not just find a job but find a career that serves your dreams and your community you may get there by doing an apprenticeship going to a technical attending University or some come mission of these also you learned that you have a civic duty as a member of whatever Community where you reside participated at community and be kind to each other we never know the challenges that our neighbors are facing each of you is unique and your path to this graduation has been unique please remember that those Educators and staff members who helped to get you here will always be there for you let them know how you were doing and it's fine. take them out for advice again congratulations on your achievement and best wishes to you on whatever path you choose thank you Jenny field remarks from the rc14 school board would like to welcome to the podium Jessica trimmer she's the College and Career access coordinator for our program Jessica first I would like to congratulate all of the graduates tonight what you've achieved is a significant milestone in your life please take from it not just your physical diploma but also the confidence and self worth it comes from setting a goal doing the work and achieving it this is just the beginning so congratulations I have the honor of presenting an award to an outstanding student from the class 2023 this student has been awarded the courage to grow award from Central Maine Community College this award recognizes an adult education student who has devoted her time and effort continuing her education in acknowledgement and appreciation of her hard work Central Maine Community College will award this student with a scholarship for 13 credit course the recipient of this scholarship award work tirelessly to earn the credits needed to obtain her diploma she is enrolled in the Human Services program at Sam's d.c. for the fall semester you won't find her chilling and relaxing the whole summer though she's taking a pre college math class so she'll be ready to hit the ground running when she begins at cmcc in the fall it's our pleasure here at Windham Raymond adult education to present the courage to grow award to a very worthy recipient Haley Brandt Harry congratulations come on up and now Catherine Citronelle will present the student remarks hi all if you are following along in the program you will see where at the student remarks action at this time I would like to ask Rihanna Crowell & Brew Adam Barnhart to join me at the podium I first met Brandon in September 2019 when he joined Windham Raymond adult education Ernest hystat while he was making great progress on his hiset pretest he suddenly disappeared I'd like to say this was due to the covid pandemic but it was a few months before that events all I can do is speculate and hope that we would see him well in July 2020 to Brandon's in return and he brought along dazzling Rihanna in a matter of two months the dynamic duo had earned their High sets and ready to embark on their next great adventure the rest of their stories is in their speech which they both co-wrote now they say that they are too shy and nervous to present the speak to you here tonight for the gas meter sorry what the  that you are pretend that it is down cuz you can say okay all right everyone pretends I'm Ariana and Brandon okay if we go hey we finally did it better late than never for all for our own separate reasons and Circumstance we are both High School Dropout we can both agree When we dropped out we were done with school altogether no intentions of going back what AM is it see you later we were ready to be adults and sick of being told what to do high school was grueling for both of us in many ways that I'm sure a lot of people can relate to we thought we had it all figured out jogging our way through our teens and early to mid-twenties bouncing from job to job with no real need to go back to school and sadly no educational goals are passions then on one random Tuesday afternoon we found herself stumbling into Kathy's office I do remember stumbling but okay get to Kathy's office just looking for a challenge wondering what it would take to get a diploma to get our diplomas call it boredom or spontaneity but little did we know how much our lives would change from that one decision Kathy was a huge reason erratic People Like Us where are you to succeed in the program I love reading about myself even on days that we wanted to quit she continuously reminded us why we were there how proud she was and mostly how much faith he had that we could finish she never push too hard though constantly working with our schedules and understanding when other things would come up it was perfect for us although we were filled with encouragement our success was left completely in our own hands a kid even if we'd like the subject we were learning the rebellious side of us didn't want to do it just because we were forced to win the Ravens College acacian doesn't 4th anything not true we do I got all of you here I want to just say that you come when you want to and you graduate at your own pace okay we were nervous at first I mean we were both out of practice for about 10 years so how we supposed to remember what we had learned in school half the time most of us forget what we had for breakfast but you'd be surprised how much information our brains will hold onto even if we don't use it within just a few weeks we're ready for our final test we ran into some opticals like Brandon's migraine during the last test thanks to Tom Nash who gave him a break and let him finish the test with the lights off we not only finished it out but we passed once we achieved our diplomas we continue to set more educational goals why stop there right text decided to speak to Jessica trimmer who offered us many suggestions on College opportunities and set us and sent us an array of scholarship application and just a couple of weeks after completing adult education we were both enrolled at as of now Rihanna is enrolled at Central Maine Community College for criminal justice studies with a goal of pursuing detective forensics and interrogation work she jetted house she just completed her first semester and is pre enroll for her next semester classes in the fall Brandon is enrolled at Kennebec Valley Community College. psychology with a passion for helping people better understand themselves as well as the importance of their mental health he also just completed his first semester and is also free enrolled for his next semester of classes in the fall we finished we finished our first semester with both of us earning a 4.0 GPA and are hoping for more scholarship opportunities into the fee yep by this time next year we'll be graduating again but with our Associates degrees we plan to continue our education after that as well moving community colleges to universities we would both highly recommend this program to anyone who has ever thought about getting back. Going back to get their diplomas and thought they couldn't do it if you're on the fence about it trust us to it we begin this journey this entire journey in July of 2022 now we stand here not even a year later with our diplomas in hand pursuing college and with many future goals we would like to say a huge thank you to Kathy Zhu give me Tom Nash Jessica trimmer and the rest of the adult education staff were sitting amongst you all today for helping us every step of the way we would also like to say thank you for a fee families for all their support most notably Jeff and Roxanne for their continued for their continued encouragement and guidance as we pursue this journey lastly a big thank you to all of the above you can make it here tonight to witness and celebrate this long-awaited moment with us Rihanna and Brandon how you guys doing thank you that was a great story told by a great story. over there it was wonderful I really I didn't know all those things about you know what has happened since you've left her program and I sat there and I'm so proud of you both and I'm proud of all you up here so congratulations I have the honor how to introduce our keynote speaker Jessica Connelly so Jess is a math teacher but not just a math teacher is a math teacher for Windham Raymond adult education Windham high school and Lemay Community College in her past like it recognized her she was a meteorologist at WCI say Channel 6 News Center Maine and you may see her again from time to time this summer she loves traveling especially the beaches all over the world she loves dogs and I said maybe more than traveling I'm not sure maybe more than traveling okay and volunteers with a local nonprofit organization Old Dogs new digs and this summer Jessica will be getting married and heading to Italy and I just said you're just going there for the honeymoon right you're coming back so I got a cut so so with that Jessica Kylie thank you guys so much for having me tonight huge congratulations you guys I know recognize a lot of your face is so congrats I'm helping some of you guys get ready for the hiset I know I didn't work with all of you but I got to help some of you are recognized a few faces for math that it's been great that we've learned a lot about everything we've learned a lot about evaluating functions in multiplying by no meals in that probability means part over whole remember yeah I've had fun working with you guys definitely in chatting about masks do enough been fun it's been great watching you guys meet your goals and be so successful we just got to hear more about that success to congrats all of you guys as you probably already know life isn't always necessarily a straight and easy path and it was never that way for me either I knew I wanted to be a meteorologist when I was 15 but because of this I had to take physics in high school and it was really really hard when I filled the fourth first quarter and I was tough for me because I had never really felt anything in my life and so I started thinking about you know maybe I want to do something else with my life is so I have to do all this hard stuff but I really like the weather and I decided to just keep trying and I was able to get help after school and struggle my way to it. by the end of the second quarter and eventually squeak out a few more passing grades in physics by the end of my year taking physics I thought few I'm done with that it is over spoiler alert I was nowhere near passed fit in college day one I met physics again and I failed again to not going to lie both his exponent physics too and I took them again and I finally passed with a c does all of the calculus in college to you need a lot of have to be a meteorologist or just I think how I ended up here but eventually I graduated college I did okay got a b-minus and I was my class president finally school was over time to find a job as a meteorologist in the real world the year was 2008 and some of you might remember we're in the middle of a recession it was really really tough I applied for 50 different job then another 50 and it was finally job application 201 not even joking that I got my first job as a meteorologist in Greenville Mississippi making $18,000 a year it was awesome all of this is just to say you can do whatever you want don't let yourself stop yourself from being great or trying something that's really scary or really hard I'm really glad I never stopped myself back in high school once or twice or maybe even three times if that's what it takes you to get through it you have all already done exactly that and like Thomas you're saying you can do more if you choose to after I lived in Mississippi for a year I moved back to the great state of Maine I started teaching at smcc kind of randomly honestly I never thought I'd be a teacher or someone would have asked me back when I was in high school or even College if I was going to be a teacher I would say no way not for me at all another spoiler alert that changed stuff and I eventually got a master's in teaching math cuz I loved it so much and I eventually went on to trade the TV thing for teaching which was the move ever as you guys may have already figured out life has things that you won't expect sometimes they're awful but sometimes they're quite awesome trying to achieve goals as wonderful and cannot attend recommend making them and sticking with it like you guys have already done I also recommend letting life surprise you a little bit sometimes the thing you'd never picture for yourself is exactly what you end up doing with your life and sometimes the guy you found quite annoying for the first four years of your friendship has it being your fiance you you all have a solid foundation out of solid academic Foundation you have also taken what some might consider and non-traditional path good you're different good that's awesome you already know how to struggle and you already know how to let life happen but for you that's pretty impressive use that be unique be persistent we all cannot wait to see what you'll do graduation class of 2023 and I love hearing stories about how's life and how they find their way to so you know on a past and how you found your way to us and we're very happy that you did so thank you thank you Jessica all right guess what is the time you've all been waiting for presentation of the conferring of the diplomas here we go and I will mention that we're going to take this slowly you see we've only been here for 25 and we're going almost to almost done so each graduate is going to get their moment in the start in the Sun and this on the spotlight so when I go slowly across the stage they're going to go down these stairs over here if you want to get a picture of them that's fine come down from the wherever you from the cheap seats in the back there come on down there's no cheap seats in your other so and April's going to get a picture of them getting their diploma from the superintendent but also can if you want to come down please feel free to do so and they're going to walk in front of me those far stairs retro please stand Brandon Barnhart you're right on that one thank you Haley Brandt Emma Jean coffin so glad you remember where you getting your diploma just pause for a minute cuz they have to. I want to get your picture okay Benjamin Doyle what what they want to get the state so quickly what's going on what's what's that all about I know the pressure is on the pressure is on Rihanna Crovel I do practice at like 10 times before she go for today this is our most recent graduate Jacob Cagney got the back row stand up and the front profile mostly sit thank you okay Owen Griffin he did it right still didn't look at the camera any perfect Joanne Groff Hadley Jordan you can tell she wanted your picture has me tell me more doctors with that afterwards Death Knight there we go Luke kriken I will say it's been fun getting to know these students in their personalities has been what a lot of fun and Jonathan Mead can another front row stand up please to signify that you are passing from one level of learning to a new chapter in your life please take your tassel with your right hand and move it from the right side to the left I now present the Wind and Rain adult education class of 2023 Standing Ovation well-deserved and Chris how would like to say a few words please to the graduates thank you for so first of all and it's awkward when you're speaking to graduation year there in the audience is there somewhere to go this way so first of all let me be the first to congratulate all of you on earning your diploma and I just want you to just take a moment right now and just pause and I want you to take you in the spot that you're in right now where you have a community of individuals who want nothing more than your absolutes I want you to take a look over in front of me and see all these individuals who have come out they might even wave to you all these individuals who come out tonight because they absolutely love care and I want the absolute best for all of you I want you to look over here to the adult education staff they're going to wave at you they have put out their heart and soul to make sure that you get what you need and then I want you to take a look around you in the stage with a but you've made through your adult education program you've made some lifelong friends and I'm sure it's sometimes that they actually had the opportunity to kind of pick you up when things might be not be going well but again just want to offer a word of congratulations what you have demonstrated is that you actually can overcome adversity you can head in the different pathway that your individuals who can think on your own and that you've got you Dirksen drive and you've got some pass the other thing I'll share with you what you discern for your high school diploma statistics say that you will now earn an extra half million dollars in your lifetime with that piece of paper that you have based on now what is open to you for your jobs so all these people who are circulating around you we expect great things from you but I also want you to know that we will do absolutely anything that we can do in our power to make sure that you're successful. The pick you up along the way to give you guidance but we just so proud of your concurrently with all that you've accomplished and congratulations on a job very well done congratulations guys thank you again Christmas it was great words I just have a few announcements and either make and then we'll be able to release the graduates from the stage we're going to be doing three photographs on stage one would just the graduates one with the honored guests up here on stage joining them and then one with just the adult education staff so I know you're out there hiding in the in the audience and we are so you'll have to come up on stage teachers and staff okay and after we've done that then the the graduates will March out and they'll go out into the hallway out here and since it's not raining we're actually going to have graduation pictures outside it was our photographer right there we'll meet you out at the end of the covered walkway out here the canopy and she will take whatever pictures you want whatever combination of pictures you want and I know last year we had some families they must have had 20 people put them in there were 20 different combinations of photographs but so she's there to take pictures for you and they are free to you it what week we can't recover that for you and she'll be giving us a link in the next week or two so we can send out to you so you can access those pictures also we also ask at the graduates please return to 301 at some point before me before you go out Sloan at you can't cuz you have your caps and gowns on sale before you leave please go to 301 and drop off your gown so you bought those gowns on for those pictures and we have an amazing graduation gift that Cheryl has put together for you that you need to pick up there as well so the first picture is The Graduate so I guess we'll have the April and get have you direct us what is the best ways what the back row standing up if anyone else want to come down and get pictures you're welcome okay and your pictures of that group alright now guessing his stage please join and you can direct us where you'd like us to to go April the last picture is just a Delta vacations staff so I see some people out there please come up I saw Shelly gold if there is anyone else I think it would get it at the adult that teachers just after the Sun Mackinaw we didn't do that last year we missed that opportunity to thank you for your patience everyone out there we don't always get a chance to get all of our staff together at one place at one time cuz it's very part-time staff doing remote teaching and in a Tuesday nights or Wednesday mornings or Friday so thank you for your understanding with that all right garage was grab everything you need from your chair please stand up and here we go thank you all for coming safe travels and enjoy celebrating the graduation for new graduates

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RSU14 2023 Adult Ed Graduation Ceremony

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