Page 13 - Florida Sentinel 5-19-17

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FLORIDA SENTINEL
FRIDAY, MAY 19, 2017
Seniors Earn College Degrees Before Graduating High School
More than 100 students from Hillsborough County High Schools have earned their A. A. degrees. The stu- dents accomplished this task as being dual enrollees at Hillsborough Commu- nity College.
Three of those graduat- ing seniors who received their college degrees before their diplomas are featured in this edition of the Sen- tinel.
They are: Ms. Stephany Robinson, of Brooks-DeBartolo Colle- giate Charter High School; Calvin Rucker, of Tampa Catholic High School; and
MS. STEPHANY ROBINSON ... Brooks-DeBartolo Collegiate High School
Bricen Williams, of Leto High School.
Ms. Robinson, 18, is the daughter of Ms. Mar-
CALVIN RUCKER
... Tampa Catholic High School
cia Lindo. She plans to at- tend the University of South Florida, where she will pursue a career as an
BRICEN WILLIAMS ... Leto High School
Anesthesiologist. She is a member of N. 56th Street Chapel.
Rucker is the 17-year-
old son of Ms. Mildred Beam and Calvin Rucker, and a member of First Baptist Church of Col- lege Hill. Rucker will con- tinue his education at Prairie View A & M Univer- sity, where he plans to major in Finance.
Williams, 17, is the son of Ms. Sabrina Smith and Johnny Williams, Jr., and a member of Vic- tory Tabernacle Metro. He will continue his education at the University of Florida, where he will enter at the junior level.
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
Young Adults Achieve Goals Of Becoming High School Graduates
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City Editor
Each year, hundreds of students attend all twelve years of school in Hillsbor- ough County. However, a percentage of these stu- dents never receive a diploma.
For various reasons, such as not being able to pass the test to graduate, the students are given a Certificate of Completion. Recently, two young adults who should have graduated more than 10 years ago now have a diploma.
Anthony Brooks was a student at Middleton High School. In 2005, in- stead of receiving his high school diploma, he re- ceived a Certificate of Completion.
Ms. Quankeisha Howard was a student at Robinson High School in 2005. She, too, received a Certificate of Completion instead of a diploma.
Ms. Tamara Sham-
Both Anthony Brooks and Ms. Quankeisha Howard earned their high school diplomas re- cently. Their graduation ceremony was held at Leary Technical Center. Shown from left to right are: Anthony Brooks, Ms. Tamara Shamburger, Hillsborough County School Board Dis- trict 5 member, Ms. Howard, and Ross Anderson, Program Manager for Educational Advo- cacy, 90% Graduation Rate Class of 2020 Hillsborough County Public School District.
of Completion instead of a diploma to know that you can accomplish this goal, just come back and receive their diplomas.”
Students who received a Certificate of Completion can return to their respec- tive high school and re- quest a copy of the certificate. If the school does not have it, they can order it.
Ms.Shamburger
said, “The vision of the School District is to pre- pare students for life. So in my opinion, that’s all stu- dents; including the ones in the past the District may have failed to ade- quately help or those who simply did not know how to help themselves.
“It’s never too late. Every student should leave high school with a stan- dard diploma and for those who didn’t, we can still help, no matter the age. We hope to help many more like Anthony Brooks and Quankeisha Howard.”
burger, Hillsborough County School Board member for District 5, and Ross Anderson, Pro- gram Manager for Edu- cational Advocacy, 90% Graduation Rate Class of 2020 Hillsbor- ough County Public School
District, were instrumen- tal in helping Brooks ob- tain his diploma.
The two were dis- cussing the journey that ended with Brooks earn- ing his diploma when they discovered another stu- dent who had accom-
plished the same goal. Anderson said, “Quankeisha took the exam in October, but did- n’t know she had passed. We surprised her with the
news.
We want other students
who received a Certificate