This article was contributed by San Benito High School.
Twenty one students received diplomas as part of San Benito High School’s largest adult diploma graduating class in history, including 10 who participated in an on-campus, outdoor ceremony on the evening of June 1.
Dressed in their black graduation gowns, the students sat in front of family and friends near the 400s classrooms on the breezy afternoon, when the adult students saw their diligence pay off with a high school diploma. The reasons for returning to school to complete their coursework are as varied as their individual life experiences.
“To see everyone up here and their hard work paying off just warms my heart,” said Liz Pulcheon, an adult education teacher who is retiring at the end of the school year. “It’s a great program with some really hard working students.”
SBHS Educational Services Director Elaine Klauer, who also oversees the adult education program, said the team has “worked tirelessly to make sure that the graduates who are sitting here have had equal opportunity to have access to their curriculum and getting their diploma.” She thanked Pulcheon (to whom she gave a congratulatory bouquet of flowers), Rafaela Espinoza, Sharon Finley and Robin Brown for their work with the adult education program, particularly their efforts to keep it operational during the pandemic.
Klauer noted Pulcheon’s background in special education and said “she has the warmest heart you can think of.”
One of the adult diploma recipients was Donna Destefanis, a longtime SBHS campus supervisor who was the graduate speaker during the ceremony.
She congratulated her fellow graduates and said “there are not enough words to express how much this accomplishment means to me. This is something my dad always wanted me to do and I know he’s looking down on me smiling right now.”
Destefanis said earning her diploma “makes me feel that I can conquer anything that the world throws at me.” She said the adult diploma program “allows anyone and everyone to achieve their goal.”
Klauer noted that adult education “is an important public education program that is open to all adults in San Benito County. This past year and a half have proven to be atypical due to our COVID restrictions. However, our program was still able to thrive.”
She said the district worked in collaboration with its Adult Ed Consortium partners to reduce the number of required Adult Diploma credits needed to graduate to 140 from 190, aligning with the district’s East Bay Adult Ed partners and other schools within the consortium.
Klauer encouraged any San Benito County residents who are interested in the Adult Education program for the 2021-22 school year to reach out to Sharon Finley at sfinley@sbhsd.k12.ca.us or by phone at 831-637-5831, ext. 168.
Congratulations to all of this year’s graduates: Miriam Aguilar Gomez, Michael Aguirre, Claudia Castaneda, Cody Cordova, Tashima Day Vingara, Donna Destefanis, Maria Diaz Ruiz, Juan Garrido, Daniel Gonzales, Elizabeth Johnson, Margarita Lopez, Isaiah Lujan Gonzalez, Fabian Perez Perez, Apolonia Porteur, Joel Rodriguez, Jacob Servin, James Soliz, Ava Sydnes, Cynthia Velasquez, Kasandra Zabalza, and Brianna Zgragen.
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