A day I would like to relive is the day that I graduated from my GED program. I didn’t get my high school diploma. I had dropped out of high school for reasons beyond my control. I ended up in a not-so-good marriage and I knew that I wanted to do better. I was working at Hardees for almost 7 years and I knew that I wanted to provide more for my kids. Even though I was married, it was really like I was a single mom; it was always me and my 3 little musketeers. I knew if I wanted a better job, I had to be able to have my high school diploma or my GED.

Every year on Live 5 News, I would watch the students walk the stage to receive their diploma and I would get really emotional. I would say, 'why them, why not me?' Finally, I thought, 'you gotta do this, Mariel, you gotta do this for your kids'. So I started attending GED classes and went part-time at my job… At that point I had been working full-time for AT&T and they did not require me to have the GED. But I switched from full-time to part-time and then I went to class while my kids were at daycare. Well, then my vehicle's engine blew, so I had to get a new vehicle, which meant I had to have a car payment. I had to go back to work full-time and it made getting my GED go from 3 months to 8 months.

I thought I was going to have to quit GED classes, but what I ended up doing was I worked full-time and then I went to night classes at Howe Hall Elementary twice a week. I would leave my full-time job, pick my kids up from daycare, and then 2 nights of the week while I did my night classes, my kids went to their own class at Howe Hall learning English speaking in Spanish. I ended up earning the GED and we did the whole graduation and I was the valedictorian! I am super proud of myself. There shouldn't be any reason for someone to say they can't do it. I ended up leaving AT&T to come work for this organization… and guess what? Here, I needed a GED -- but I had just earned it. And I've been here almost 20 years!