Manchester Adult and Continuing Education Honors First Graduating Class

It's wasn't your typical graduation ceremony Thursday night in the Bailey Auditorium of , but then again the students graduating as the inaugural class of the Manchester Adult and Continuing Education program weren't exactly your typical students either. 

The 60 students who received their diplomas Thursday evening ranged from high school dropouts to recently arrived immigrants to senior citizens, but , the program's director, says that's what makes the program uniquely Manchester's. 

Kearney was one of the strongest advocates for bringing the program back to Manchester, after the town of Vernon had allowed Manchester to send its adult education students to its program for the past 60 years; providing some sort of adult and continuing education program is required under Connecticut law. 

"Why this is a unique situation is this is year one for Manchester to be operating its own adult ed," said Kearney. "It's important to create programs that meet the needs of the Manchester community." 

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32 students completed the program's Credit Diploma Program (CDP), which is the equivalent of a high school diploma awarded by any other Connecticut high school; 12 students completed the General Educational Development program (GED), which is the equivalent of a high school diploma but requires recipients to pass a series of standardized tests; and 16 students completed the National External Diploma Program, which allows adults to obtain a diploma in part by applying their life experiences in real-life situations.

State Sen. Steve Cassano, another strong advocate of the program returning to Manchester, served as the ceremony's keynote speaker. Cassano told the graduates that others may have been dealt "aces" and "kings" through circumstances that allowed them to attend prestigious high schools and colleges, but that every one of Thursday's graduates had a "straight flush" because they wanted and made the difficult choice to continue their education and attain a diploma. 

"Everybody here is a straight flush," Cassano told the graduates. "Because you want to be here. It means something to you. You had to sacrifice." 

For more information about the Manchester Adult and Continuing Education program, check out its website at www.manchesteradulted.org.