Diplomas are tip of iceberg for featured grads

It's high school graduation season in Utah. Chances are there is a graduate in your neighborhood, if not your own home.

What will become of the 36,000 graduates our high schools are about to turn loose on the world? Are they prepared for their next station in life, whether it's college, the work force, military service or marriage?

This past week, the Deseret Morning News' education team produced a special report on graduates who have beat the odds to earn their diplomas. It is one of my favorite features because the stories brim with optimism. These graduates have overcome displacement and the loss of their parents and discrimination, among other challenges. Very soon, all will have their high school diplomas to show for their perseverance.

These stories have appeal because we all like to cheer for the underdog. Some of these stories are about adults who have wanted to finish what they started, albeit a few years behind schedule.

Take Cedar City's Judy Fielding, who dropped out of high school with just five credits to go. Thirty-four years later, she returned to high school after being passed over for a job that required a high school diploma. She graduated from high school the same day as her daughter, Leslie Blackmon, who has had her own challenges completing high school.

At one point, a school counselor advised Blackmon that she might as well drop out of school because she was so far behind in earning credits. Blackmon set out to prove the counselor and a few of her teachers wrong.

So Blackmon enrolled at an alternative high school. Meanwhile, Fielding went to the adult high school. They studied together, took lunch breaks together and both earned their high school diplomas. Blackmon completed her studies ahead of time and enrolled in cosmetology college.

The common thread in the "Graduating against the odds" stories is that these particular graduates' high school experiences have been beset by circumstances, misfortune and youthful choices. But the goal was so important, so looming, that these particular seniors went to extraordinary lengths to earn their diplomas. A good many of them not only will graduate, but they've also earned high marks in school and will go to college on scholarships.