NEW ORLEANS (press release) – The Literacy Alliance of Greater New Orleans (LAGNO) will host the 12th Annual Regional Adult Education Graduation ceremony on Saturday, June 29, at 10:00a.m. at the Mahalia Jackson Theater. More than 100 graduates will celebrate passing the HiSET (formerly GED) exam as they walk across the stage and receive their diplomas to the cheers of family and friends.
“The 2019 citywide Adult Education Graduation celebrates lifelong learning and the families who support their graduates,” says LAGNO Board Member Robin Goldblum, also a dedicated librarian with the New Orleans Public Library. “These men and women have connected their life experience and knowledge with their education. They are champions in our community as they knock down barriers in order to gain equitable access to the world.”
This year’s guest keynote address will be delivered by attorney Theodore Shaw. In 2006, Mr. Shaw made headlines as one of the Jena 6, a group of young men wrongfully accused of a violent crime. After being incarcerated for several months, he was eventually found innocent, graduated high school and college, and received a full scholarship to the School of Law at the University of Washington in Seattle, from which he graduated in 2018. Mr. Shaw recently passed the Louisiana Bar and works for the LA Supreme Court Justice Bernette Johnson.
The graduation ceremony will be possible with the help of Mayor Cantrell’s Office of Children and Families.
Hal Clark, host of WYLD 98.5’s “Sunday Journal,” will serve as emcee for the event, as he has done since the inaugural graduation ceremony. The ROTC will open the ceremony with the presentation of colors.
Graduates from educational programs at Hope House, Jefferson Parish Adult Education Program, Youth Empowerment Program/New Orleans Providing Literacy to All Youth (YEP/NOPLAY), YMCA Adult Education Services (YES), St. Vincent de Paul Adult Education Services, and the Urban League of Greater New Orleans will take part in the ceremony. The event is free, family-friendly, and open to the public.
Established in 2002, the Literacy Alliance of Greater New Orleans supports local organizations that provide adult literacy services in Orleans, Jefferson, Plaquemines, St. Bernard and the River Parishes. For more information, visit their website.
