“We Made It”

A roar from the standing audience shook the Shubert Theater as graduate Shatoya Morris, who at a young age saw her mother shot and killed, spoke about her ​“trials and tribulations and tragedies.” She couldn’t quiet the audience. So she shouted over the roar, tears in her eyes.

“When I was on the streets I asked myself, ​‘Who am I?’ And now I know. I am a 27-year-old black woman who was told over and over again that I couldn’t make it, but with God in my eyes and a son on my back, here I am,” she said. ​“We made it.”

Real-life dramas took the center stage Tuesday evening at the Shubert as Morris (pictured) and other new graduates of the New Haven Adult & Continuing Education Center celebrated overcoming struggles to ​“make it.”

As the graduates walked across the stage with their diplomas, friends and family in the audience looked like they were going to jump out of the boxes and balconies.

Board of Education President Carlos Torre and Superintendent Garth Harries certified the 173 blue-robed candidates in the High School Credit, GED and National External Diploma programs. Mayor Toni Harp spoke at the event, followed by words of encouragement from Principal Glen Worthy, who completed his first year in the position.
​“Don’t let this graduation ceremony be the high point; this is just the beginning,” Worthy told his students. ​“We expect so much more from you.”

The ceremony primarily featured student speakers from the class of 2015, who all shared experiences of overcoming personal and economic hardships to achieve their goals, moving toward careers in computer science, military, social work, carpentry, and many other fields.

After a difficult childhood, Morris found herself out of school, going nowhere. Though she made several attempts to get her GED, she had problems staying in school. But when she came to the Adult & Continuing Education Center, she renewed her determination to change her life and found guidance from teachers and counselors that kept her on the right path — one that led her to the stage today.

Staff, family and friends packed the three-tiered historic theater, with several more standing in the back. Many of them crowded Morris after the ceremony, leaving her with an armful of letters, flowers and balloons she could barely hold while navigating through the mass of graduates and their emotional families reuniting outside the historic College Street theater.

Among them was the high school credit program’s case manager, Jeff Moreno, congratulating graduates and hugging their mothers. He said this was not only an important day for the students and their families, but also the city as a whole.

“This is a big win for New Haven today,” he said. ​“We now have more educated, hard-working people entering the job market and contributing to the economy; and look, the entire community is behind them.”

The event featured two songs from the Unity Boys Choir, spoken word poetry, and an a capella rendition of ​“Lean on Me” by two women in the graduating class, who had the audience singing and clapping along to the uplifting tune.

After the pomp and circumstance, Brandon Mendoza, stood outside with his smiling parents. In his speech at the ceremony, he recalled a time when their expressions were less proud. During his senior year of high school, he ran into problems and decided to ​“take the easy way out,” drifting through life with no aspirations.

“I was another statistic of a high school dropout,” he said.

After a serious talk with his father, he enrolled in the Adult & Continuing Education Center and obtained his high school diploma. He spent the rest of his speech thanking his teachers, one by one, and repeating their life lessons, which had little to do with chemistry or math.

With their help, he said, he could make his parents smile again.