The third time was the charm for Mercedes Craig-Paul.
She enrolled at the Orillia Learning Centre, but dropped out when she became pregnant. After giving birth, she decided to try again.
That’s when mental health issues and a cocaine addiction led her to abandon her studies once more.
When she became pregnant with her second child, she had a choice to make: the drugs or the baby. She chose the latter, kicked her habit and has been sober for two years.
Thursday afternoon, she walked across the stage at Hawk Ridge Golf and Country Club to receive her diploma.
“I’ve never seen my dad cry before today,” she said. “It’s that big of a deal.”
Craig-Paul will be pursuing a career in plumbing.
Not only did she complete her secondary school education; she was chosen by her classmates to be valedictorian.
“There is no such thing as ‘too late’ in life,” she told her peers, quoting from Mitch Albom’s Tuesdays with Morrie.
“I hope that as we end this chapter in our lives,” she continued, “we are ready to begin a new one.”
Craig-Paul, 23, credited her success to her family, Learning Centre staff and the community organizations that helped her through her struggles.
“Community partnerships are what got me here,” she said.
Her message to those who feel a diploma is out of reach: “It’s never too late in life. I’ve got two kids and an addiction under my belt. If I can do this, anyone can.”
It wasn’t an easy journey for James Rutherford, either. He packed up his life and left Newmarket in April, moving to Orillia for a fresh start and hoping to leave behind his troubles, including addiction.
“I restarted my life,” Rutherford, 28, said after Thursday’s graduation ceremony. “It was worth it.”
He needed four credits and managed to earn them within a few weeks. It gave him a renewed sense of hope, and even more reason to stay sober.
“I feel like I can think again. I feel happy, which is something I hadn’t felt in a long time,” he said. “I feel like the world has opened its doors.”
Rutherford, who will pursue a career in property management, following in his mother’s footsteps, said his family “didn’t expect” to see the day he received his diploma and got clean.
“My mom keeps telling me how proud she is of me,” he said with a big smile, “and that I’ve inspired her.”
Many of the graduates have inspiring stories of beating the odds to get their diplomas. Some are single parents who had to juggle home, work and school. Others battled their own demons of addiction and mental illness, and thrived.
“Many of you seemed ashamed and embarrassed and tried to hide your age,” Tammy Rodaro, vice-principal of adult and continuing education with the Simcoe County District School Board, told the grads. “Age is just a number. You have rich life experience that you were able to draw upon.”
Thursday’s ceremony recognized graduates from both the Orillia and North Simcoe Learning Centres.
Debra Schunk, valedictorian for the North Simcoe class, praised her peers for making it to the big day.
“It took courage for each of us to come back to school and face our fears,” she said.
Ninety people graduated from the two Learning Centres this year.
