2009 GED Graduation
June 17, 2009
Contact: Jennifer McDonald
Communications Manager
Central New Mexico Community College
(505) 224-4673
Students Celebrate Achievements at GED Graduation
Central New Mexico Community College will welcome 265 students to the 22nd annual New Mexico GED Graduation at 10 a.m. Saturday, June 20 at Popejoy Hall. The event celebrates students who earned their GED over the past year.
Keynote speakers Ingrid Mitchell and Paul Florio have very different stories, but the message they will share with GED graduates is the same. No matter how life gets in the way, there are no hurdles too great to keep anyone from achieving an education.
Mitchell left school to go to work to help her family. She later earned a GED and then continued on to CNM where she earned a liberal arts degree in 2006 and transferred to the University of New Mexico where she graduated in May with a bachelor’s degree in Native American Studies with a concentration in self-determination and leadership and a minor in business management. Mitchell now works for Community Action New Mexico as an IDEA administrative manager.
“I really felt a connection to my community,” Mitchell said, who is three-fourths Acoma and one-fourth Hopi. “I wanted a degree to help me find a job on the reservation and to help my community.”
Florio juggled life’s challenges while working toward an education. He started attending CNM while he was undergoing alcohol rehabilitation. He graduated from CNM in May 2008 with an associate’s degree in Health Information Management.
He works as a department manager at Walgreens while raising his two daughters with his wife Kala. And just for fun he works part time at 94 Rock as a morning show personality.
Saturday’s unique cap-and-gown graduation ceremony gives students and their families a chance to celebrate this life-changing milestone, especially since many of them overcame difficult obstacles to earn their GED diplomas.
CNM’s GED classes are offered through the School of Adult & General Education, which has been recognized as one of the four best models in the nation for adult/developmental education by the National Center for Developmental Education and the Center for Advancement of Adult Literacy.
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