High school equivalency graduation at GCC celebrates 40

GREENFIELD — Forty adult students who passed their high school equivalency test, now referred to as the HiSET, received their diplomas, along with citations from state Sen. Jo Comerford, during a ceremony at Greenfield Community College on Friday.

The Literacy Project has helped more than 90 adult students pass their HiSET since the onset of the pandemic, but Friday marked the first graduation ceremony held in person since 2019. The ceremony also included graduates from the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office and students who tested on their own for the HiSET.

“Graduates, we believe in you, and now you can believe in yourselves,” Judith Roberts, The Literacy Project’s executive director, said in her speech. “You know that you can set a goal and achieve it. ... With diplomas in hand, you can go on to community college, job training programs and better jobs.”

Wyvonne Stevens-Carter, state director of adult education, was the keynote speaker, encouraging the students to continue to set goals for success. GCC’s Interim President Richard Hopper, 2nd Franklin District Rep. Susannah Whipps and Greenfield Mayor Roxann Wedegartner attended. Five Literacy Project graduates shared their experiences. The ceremony was officiated by GCC’s Chief Examiner Kate Devlin.

Elizabeth Byrne, The Literacy Project’s High School Equivalency teacher in Greenfield said

“Our students show up and do the work,” Elizabeth Byrne, The Literacy Project’s high school equivalency teacher in Greenfield, said in a press release. “They are determined, resilient and full of hope for their future. It’s often in the small moments behind the scenes when this determination and resilience shows itself. As a teacher at The Literacy Project, I am honored and grateful to bear witness to these moments.

“Our graduation is an opportunity to bring our students out front,” Byrne continued, “to celebrate in full their accomplishments, to celebrate their stories, to celebrate what is to come.”

Melissa Levesque, mother of six and a student from The Literacy Project in Orange, read a poem she dedicated to her teacher about going back to school:

“I enrolled myself in classes

I struggled but pushed myself to the front of the line

I began to regain the things that were once in the forefront of my mind

And squired a few new skills

And to ask me now about myself

I’d answer just how thrilled

Thrilled to see how far I’ve come

And that we all turned out alright

And seeing the difference between then and now

Is truly day and night.”