Diploma program helps open doors for graduates

One was to earn a high school equivalency diploma, and she did that Wednesday.

Burns was thrilled to receive her diploma and called it “a weight off my shoulders.”

“I’ve been waiting on this moment for so long,” she said. “It’s been a very, very long road. It’s been a couple obstacles. It’s been a lot of, ‘I can’t do it,’ and it’s been a lot of people motivating me and pushing me.”

Burns wants to be a phlebotomist and said receiving her diploma will help her get there.

She was one of about 80 graduates at Memorial Hall, 72 Seventh St., who completed the YWCA of Southeast Wisconsin‘s 5.09 High School Equivalency Diploma program.

The HSED program is free for students to attend. The average time to complete the coursework is 21 weeks.

Instruction is offered through Gateway Technical College in both English and Spanish. Most classes are taught online in the mornings and evenings.

During the past six months, Burns passed several classes that occurred Monday through Thursday evenings. She took courses while working full-time as a caregiver and part-time at a salon.

Pamela Davis, YWCA of Southeast Wisconsin interim managing director of mission programs, said the graduates are successful because they persevered to earn their diplomas.

“There’s nothing that you can’t do, because look at what you did now, look at what you have done,” Davis said. “You have the tools. Now it’s up to you to decide how to use them.”

Burns was one of 43 graduates who received scholarships of up to $1,500 from the City of Racine’s Growing Residents’ Opportunities and Wealth program to help support them while enrolled.

The scholarships are funded with federal American Rescue Plan Act money, which expires at the end of this month.

Mayor Cory Mason called it “a great and momentous night” for the graduates.

“I’m just really proud, on behalf of the City of Racine, of all the work that you’ve done,” Mason said. “It is going to open doors for you that you may not even know yet.”

Cyndean Jennings, Gateway’s dean of the school of pre-college and momentum programs and dean of Racine campus affairs, said graduation is the beginning of a new life chapter and that graduates have bright futures.

“Keep pushing forward, stay curious and let the passion you brought here guide you to new adventures,” Jennings said. “The world is waiting for you, and all of us here have no doubt that you all will continue to shine.”

Accomplished and blessed

Burns moved to Racine during elementary school. In high school, she was bullied and often came home crying.

Two of her friends died in a car accident when she was in high school, according to Burns, and she eventually dropped out.

“I felt like I wasn’t going to be anything when I got older, just because I dropped out at a young age,” Burns said. “I needed to just find myself and try to get back in school.”

Before this year, Burns attempted to earn her HSED several times.

“Something small would district me, and I’d stop going,” Burns said. “One day I told myself ... ‘I really have to do this. It’s so much stuff I want to do, but I don’t have my diploma.’”

Challenges along the way included feeling insecure about her intelligence and being unsure if she could balance work with classes.

“It’s been plenty of times where I’m like, ‘I don’t know how much stronger I can be,’” Burns said. “Something just pushed me to keep going.”

Burns was buoyed by a support system of her mother, father and friends.

Before her father died, he consistently encouraged her.

“No obstacle is too big or too small,” he often told Burns. “God gives tests to the strong ones, and you are strong. Hold the faith and keep going. This is not the end. Be strong.”

Burns kept going and reached one of her goals.

“It’s been a chip on my shoulder for so long,” Burns said. “I feel relieved, I feel accomplished … and I feel blessed.”