Beneath every shiny black mortarboard at this emotion-filled commencement, there was a graduate with a story.
In some cases, they were stories of overcoming adversity. Of living through lack of support and poverty, or abusive relationships, violence or drug addiction. Of beating the odds and fulfilling a promise to themselves or family.
But the unifying story, the thread that bound these grads together for all time? That’s the fact that at whatever age they were when they chose to return to school, they made the decision to go for the validation they craved by earning a GED, adult high school diploma or other credentials.
And so, on May 27, decked out in the caps and gowns they’d missed out on before, 122 of the 232 members of the Class of 2026 at Brevard Adult and Community Education, BACE, gathered in celebration at the CDL Range in Cocoa.
There was Cassandra Whitehead, who crossed the stage carrying her 3-month-old baby, Aurora.
People of all ages, races and backgrounds.
Student speaker Angela Espitia told the crowd about the support she received from BACE while balancing work and family responsibilities, describing it as a place “where confidence is rebuilt and opportunities emerge.”
Those words resonate with Lorri Benjamin. She’s director at BACE, where she says there is a “sense of belonging and community through resilience” and where the mission is to “provide an open door to a quality education for all adult learners and those in the community that seek skills to enhance their lives.”
This year, the center had graduates in all four programs: AHS (Adult High School), with the largest number of grads; GED (General Educational Development); ESOL(English for Speakers of other Languages) and IET/Workforce – Integrated Education and Training, whose graduates this year included those in paraprofessional, construction and health care training.
“Our graduation is a showcase of what dreams are made of,” Benjamin said.
Family, faith, support lead grad to path forward
Dreams seemed impractical and unattainable for years to Jennifer Prefontaine, who dropped out of Rockledge High School 26 years ago.
The day after graduation, at which she was one of the student speakers, the 45-year-old was still brimming with pride.
It wasn’t an easy journey, she said, from where she was a few years ago to standing in front of a crowd, talking about her journey.
After leaving high school, Prefontaine said, she worked two jobs to help support her family in taking care of a dying uncle.
“After he passed away, I was going through a lot of physical, mental, emotional abuse,” she said.
“I ended up going a different way in life … life took me down a road with a lot of bumps and bruises and mistakes. I didn’t like who I was becoming so I had to do something. I had to self-reflect and be honest with myself, evaluate who I was, and I didn’t like it.”
Ultimately, she said, what took her back to school was looking back at where she’d been and where she was headed, with her children in mind.
“If I’m expecting my kids to succeed, I need to set a better example,” she said. “And with the way the economy is, with no education, it really puts limits on you.”
During the journey, she learned was better at math and science than she’d thought she would be.
“English and history had been my better subjects,” Prefontaine said.
‘So that was shocking. The encouragement that I received from every single staff member, every day … I was greeted with a smile. With encouragement. With uplifting words. They sat there and worked one on one with me.”
And there’s no mistaking the impact of faith in her life.
“What really made the change in my life is that the word of God is very powerful,” Prefontaine said. “I give credit to all the teachers and people who were there for me, but all the lonely nights I cried and nobody was there, I had his voice. I had his word that built me into a better person, seeing who I was in him and not what the world called me to be.”
The seahorse boasts unique perspective on life
On the BACE program’s website, the history of the center’s mascot, a seahorse, is explained.
“The seahorse can look forward and backward at the same time,” it reads.
“Because of their unique eyesight, seahorses symbolize intuition and the ability to see the past, present, and future at the same time.”
For Prefontaine, the past no longer defines her path in the present or future.
In one photo from her big day, she waves her right hand in the air. Her huge smile extends to the happiness in her eyes.
For too long, “I felt like I was the only one who went through the kinds of situations I went through,” she said.
“And I found out there are people going through the same things. People need to know how to get through all that, how to journey through life … the best voice is the voice of experience.”
Britt Kennerly is education/breaking news/Style editor at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Kennerly at 321-917-4744 or bkennerly@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @bybrittkennerly Facebook: /bybrittkennerly
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Graduates celebrate hard-won diplomas at emotional Brevard commencement
Reporting by Britt Kennerly, Florida Today / Florida Today
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
