Maria Valles, a Get SET practitioner from Peel District School Board, sent her impressions from her most recent adult high school graduation. Thank you so much for this moving account, Maria!
Friends and family members were not the only ones in attendance wanting to celebrate this milestone. Not only were the Associate Director and Superintendent present as honoured guests, the Adult Credit program and Get SET program staff filled the stands, celebrating each grad.
In the decade that I managed the program, I always found it difficult to succinctly describe the role that Get SET plays in the landscape of adult education. The name change this year didn’t make it any easier.
But, sitting in the audience, watching the physical embodiment of CaMS files walk across the stage to claim their diploma, I saw it – the role that Get SET played in the lives of our learners.
Our Get SET practitioners stood at the bottom of the stairs, offering a steady hand as each grad mounted the stairs to the stage. That’s it, that’s exactly what the Get SET program does – we are there to provide the support needed for our learners to move forward towards their goal. Just like that day, that offered support looked different for each learner.
On this graduation day, the support was available and willingly offered to each graduate. As some individuals moved across the stage to shake the Associate Director’s hand, Get SET instructors sat up a little straighter, acknowledging “That was my student.”
Overall, 16% of the graduates this day came through the Get SET program, with multiple Ontario Scholars and two subject awards. The most visible Get SET moment came when the class valedictorian gave a shout out to the program for starting him off on his secondary school journey by not only teaching him the content he needed, but creating a safe environment in which he could learn at his own pace without feeling judged.