{"id":7597,"date":"2018-05-11T12:56:19","date_gmt":"2018-05-11T12:56:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nashccnews.com\/news\/?p=7597"},"modified":"2018-05-11T12:56:19","modified_gmt":"2018-05-11T12:56:19","slug":"ncc-celebrates-adult-high-school-and-%ef%bb%bfhigh-school-equivalency-graduates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nashccnews.com\/news\/2018\/05\/ncc-celebrates-adult-high-school-and-%ef%bb%bfhigh-school-equivalency-graduates\/","title":{"rendered":"NCC Celebrates Adult High School and \ufeffHigh School Equivalency Graduates"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"Nash Community College celebrated the accomplishment of 105 High School Equivalency graduates at a commencement ceremony held\u00a0Thursday, May 10, 2018\u00a0in Brown Auditorium.<\/div>\n
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Quoting Ecclesiastes\u00a09:11, student speaker Rakenza Whitaker encouraged fellow graduates saying, “The race is not given to the swift nor the strong, but the one who endureth till the end.\u201d<\/div>\n
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Whitaker, 47, owns a disc jockey company and mentors youth interested in becoming a DJ.\u00a0He lives in Whitakers with his wife and two children.<\/div>\n
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“I dropped out in my junior year of high school. I really can\u2019t explain why. I was young and not thinking about my future,\u201d he said.<\/div>\n
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Whitaker was employed at Safelite for 22 years until the plant closed in 2016. \u201cEnrolling in college after all these years was hard,\u201d he said. \u201cI had been out of school for so long, and I wasn\u2019t sure of myself.\u201d<\/div>\n
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He thanked the faculty, his classmates and his family for not allowing him to give up.<\/div>\n
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Upon completion of the High School Equivalency credential, he enrolled in NCC\u2019s Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) program, and graduated in April.<\/div>\n
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\u201cI’ve been out of the workforce for over a year, so my next step is to go back to work. But I\u2019m not done. This experience has taught me there is more to my future, and I plan to return to school, get an HVAC degree and open my second business,\u201d\u00a0Whitaker\u00a0said.<\/div>\n
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\u201cI stand here today to encourage each of you to keep moving forward. This is just the beginning,\u201d Whitaker said.<\/div>\n
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NCC Director of Student Wellness and Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences, Marbeth Holmes, delivered the keynote address.<\/div>\n
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“I am here with you\u00a0tonight\u00a0because I once was where you are.\u00a0For me, earning my High School Equivalency proved to be a stepping stone for a non-traditional journey that has led to a deeper understanding: the value of love and of education. I hope the same will be true for you,” Holmes said.<\/div>\n
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After sharing her own personal experience facing adversity with an attitude of persistence, Marbeth Holmes congratulated and encouraged the graduates. “Whatever your path, whatever you experienced that steered you from society\u2019s traditional pathway, honor the journey. Celebrate it. You are the exception. Be exceptional,” Holmes remarked.<\/div>\n
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Each graduate\u00a0received a blue pocket stone with “Love” engraved on it to remind them of the value of love and education as many have turned life’s challenges into stepping stones towards a brighter future.<\/div>\n
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“What to others may seem like a small accomplishment is a transformative stepping stone that will make all your future successes possible.\u00a0Tonight\u00a0you are a graduate,” she exclaimed.<\/div>\n
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An award-winning and experienced professional, Holmes earned an Associate of Arts degree in Liberal Arts from Louisburg College and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Meredith College. She graduated with a Master of Arts from Abilene Christian University and Master of Social Work from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Holmes is a National Certified Trauma Clinician, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, and Licensed Clinical Addictions Specialist.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nash Community College celebrated the accomplishment of 105 High School Equivalency graduates at a commencement ceremony held\u00a0Thursday, May 10, 2018\u00a0in Brown Auditorium. Quoting Ecclesiastes\u00a09:11, student speaker Rakenza Whitaker encouraged fellow… Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16,3,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nashccnews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7597"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nashccnews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nashccnews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nashccnews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nashccnews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7597"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nashccnews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7597\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7638,"href":"https:\/\/www.nashccnews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7597\/revisions\/7638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nashccnews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nashccnews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nashccnews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}