LOS ANGELES : Men Are First Graduates of Mission GED Program
Marking a milestone on a road that looked like a dead-end street just a year ago, three men received high school equivalency diplomas at the Los Angeles Mission on Friday.
Another 28 received certificates for passing English proficiency classes. The men were the first to graduate from the downtown mission’s year-old Henry Salvatori Educational Center, which then-First Lady Barbara Bush dedicated in April, 1992.
It may have been the one of the happiest graduating classes in the city.
Robert Johnson-Bey, 39, slapped his friend’s hand as he led the graduates to their seats for a ceremony that was part commencement and part sermon. Christopher Nicholson, 4, beamed as he watched his father, Anthony, 32, walk by in a burgundy satin cap and gown on the way to receive his diploma--the one he wanted to complement the diploma he earned in his native Belize.
The Rev. Joe Warrington, in his commencement address, exhorted the graduates to never stop learning.
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