Mt. Pleasant Correctional Facility holds graduation ceremony

MT. PLEASANT — Ten incarcerated men proudly accepted High School Equivalency Diplomas (HSED) presented by Southeastern Community College (SCC) President Dr. Michael Ash, Thursday at the Mt. Pleasant Correctional Facility.

Adorned in SCC red caps and gowns, heads held high, and shoulders back, the graduates proceeded down the aisle past prison staff, program instructors, and visitors to “Pomp and Circumstance.”

Mt. Pleasant Correctional Facility Warden, Marcy Stroud welcomed the graduates and guest.

“Our focus is reentry,” Stroud said. “This is one of the best examples of our success in equipping individuals for that.”

According to Stroud, the prison houses 1,100 incarcerated individuals and 160 live-out persons.

Of these, 28 men participated in a program offered in partnership with SCC to prepare and complete the High School Equivalency Test (HiSET).

Lead instructor of HiSET and life skills Jolene Cox addressed the graduates and guests.

“At this time, I’d like to share with you what it takes to earn a high school equivalency diploma, so you have an appreciation of the graduates’ accomplishments,” she said.

According to Cox, graduates must show a mastery level in reading, writing, social studies, and math through the completion of 15 total tests.

“The reading sub-test measures your ability to understand, interpret and analyze a broad range of literacy and informational tests,” Cox explained.

Science covers life sciences, physical science, and earth science.

Civics, government, economics, and geography make up the Social Studies requirements.

The writing requirements are two part.

First, writing mastery requires the individuals to make revision choices concerning organization, diction, clarity, sentence structure, usage, and mechanics.

Second, they are asked to generate and organize ideas in writing.

“Each of the graduates were asked to write a persuasive essay,” Cox said. “Those essays were read and scored by real people.”

The math tests measure mathematical knowledge and competencies.

“They were tested on numbers and operations, measurements and geometry, Probability and statistics, and of course, the dreaded algebra,” she said.

Cox invited the graduates to share a few words.

[ITALICS] [Out of respect for crime victims, Mt. Pleasant Correctional Facility asked for graduates to remain anonymous.]

One graduate stated that dropping out of high school was one of his biggest regrets.

“I am eternally grateful to you all for providing this opportunity to achieve this goal,” he said.

Many of the graduates thanked Cox and HiSET instructor Sarah Raymond for their roles in obtaining their HSED.

“I would like to thank Miss Cox and Raymond for telling me I could do it,” another graduate said. “Because of them, I got to call home and do the one thing I always wanted to do, tell my mother I got my diploma.”

Each expressed words of gratitude for the opportunity.

“Thank you for this opportunity to use my time here wisely and not waste it,” one graduate said.

Cox recognized one graduate for his induction into the National Adult Education Honor Society.

To qualify for NAEHS membership, this individual demonstrated dependable attendance, a cooperative attitude, and a strong work ethic.

While the NAEHS does not require high student test scores for membership, Cox shared that this individual’s scores, in all subjects, were in the college and life readiness range.

SCC President Ash addressed the graduates before presenting their diplomas.

“Congratulations, we are very proud of you,” he said. “We hope this is only the beginning.”

“Don’t stop,” he urged. “You can do more. You can be more.”

The 10 graduates in attendance were called one by one to receive their diplomas.

One graduate’s eyes filled with tears as he returned to his seat examining his diploma.

Ash presented the class and proud smiles stretched across the men’s faces as they faced the audience and moved their tassels.

Comments: AnnaMarie.Ward@southeastiowaunion.com