Tough job, but there are happy days!

Around this time last year, I was meeting with eighth grade students and their parents about their plans for high school. In one of these meetings, I discovered a mom who had ended up quitting high school in the middle of her senior year. I told her there were possibilities of her finishing her requirements and getting a diploma. She said she would let me know.

This past week, the mom came by the school to see me. She said she was ready to complete her diploma requirements. I called a person in our Central Office who told me what information I needed to get him to see what we could do. I investigated her permanent record finding that her transcript was incomplete. I contacted a previous school and received the information I needed.

This lady should have graduated in 1993 so I had to find out the graduation requirements for that year. These were not found on-line on the Tennessee Department of Education website. So I dug through some of the files that belonged to the counselor at that time and found what I was looking for.

After all of my digging I presented my information to the right people. Long story short, this lady can get her diploma in about 3 weeks. She has to attend classes to complete the diploma requirements and should be finished.

With tears in my eyes, I brought tears to this lady’s eyes as I told her the good news.

Today makes my job worth all the efforts I put forth! To know that I have helped someone succeed and feel better about themselves is very rewarding.