Campus News

For many adults, a high school diploma is more than a credential. It is proof that the obstacles of the past do not have the final word. Calhoun Community College’s Adult Education Division will honor that truth with a second chance graduation ceremony recognizing individuals who earned their General Education Diploma (GED) or completed the Alabama Non-Traditional High School Diploma Option (HSDO), a milestone that, for many graduates, has been decades in the making.

The ceremony will be held on Wednesday, July 9, at 4 p.m. in the Sparkman Grand Foyer on Calhoun’s Huntsville campus, located at 102 Wynn Dr NW, Huntsville, AL. The public is invited to celebrate alongside the graduates and their families.

This year’s ceremony will bring together adults from across the region who refused to let life’s setbacks define their futures. Some came back to school after raising children. Others returned after navigating divorce, job loss, or circumstances beyond their control. All of them crossed a finish line that, at one point, may have seemed out of reach.

Among those being honored is Nikazalia Mitchell of Athens, Alabama, a mother of three who completed Calhoun’s HSDO program after years of putting her family’s needs ahead of her own educational goals. Her journey is one that many adult learners will recognize: full of hard seasons, quiet determination, and a turning point that changed everything. Mitchell will also serve as this year’s graduation ceremony speaker, sharing her story with fellow graduates and their families.

Mitchell completed her diploma through the Alabama Non-Traditional High School Diploma Option, a state-approved alternative to the GED designed to serve adults who left the traditional high school setting before graduating. A distinctive feature of the HSDO is that graduates receive their diploma from the Alabama high school they would have originally graduated from, making the credential a direct connection to their original educational journey.

Mitchell’s path to graduation was anything but straightforward. As a teenager, she spent time in foster care and returned home at 16 to a situation that offered little stability or support. Finishing high school was not a realistic option at that point in her life. As she got older, she focused on raising her three daughters, and education became something she kept putting off. The turning point came when she found herself rebuilding her life following a divorce. She realized that if she wanted a stable future for herself and her daughters, she needed to invest in her own education. She enrolled in Calhoun’s HSDO program and did not look back.

Balancing the program with real life was not easy. While enrolled, Mitchell was raising three daughters and navigating a divorce that brought court hearings, paperwork, and the emotional weight of rebuilding from the ground up. There were days, she says, that felt overwhelming. She studied after her children went to bed and completed assignments whenever she could find a quiet moment. Through all of it, her daughters kept her going. She wanted them to see that no matter how difficult life becomes, it is never too late to go after your goals.

She credits instructors Lisa Flowers and Jennifer Crawford with helping her believe success was possible. “They were encouraging, patient, and genuinely invested in helping students succeed,” Mitchell said. “They never made me feel judged for how long it had taken me to come back.” That support gave her something she had rarely experienced growing up: the sense that someone was in her corner. By the time she completed the program, the weight of what she had accomplished settled in, and with it, a new understanding of her own resilience. “I’ve learned that your story isn’t defined by where you start. It’s defined by what you do next,” she said. “Earning my diploma showed me that I am stronger and more capable than I ever realized.”

When Mitchell received her diploma, the moment carried the full weight of everything she had been through. She thought about being a teenager in foster care, about the years she had spent believing that finishing her education might never happen, and about the difficult seasons that could have easily held her back for good. Most of all, she thought about her daughters. “For the first time in a long time, I wasn’t looking back at what I had missed,” she said. “I was looking forward to everything that was now possible.”

Since earning her diploma, Mitchell has become a homeowner, enrolled as a full-time student at Calhoun, and is now pursuing a career in nursing. She has a message for any adult who is hesitating to take that first step. “If someone had told the teenage girl in foster care that one day she would earn her diploma, become a homeowner, raise three daughters, and go to college, I probably wouldn’t have believed them,” she said. “But that’s exactly why you shouldn’t let your past determine your future. Believe in yourself, even if it’s just a little at first. Take the chance.”

Mitchell’s story is one of many. Calhoun’s Adult Education Division serves individuals throughout the region who are working toward a GED or diploma while managing jobs, families, and personal challenges. The July 9 ceremony is designed to mark these accomplishments with the recognition they deserve, in a room full of people who understand what it took to get there.

Adults interested in earning their GED or high school diploma through the HSDO program are encouraged to visit www.calhoun.edu/adulteducation to learn more about available programs, eligibility requirements, and enrollment.