GLOUCESTER TWP. – Cleveland Foat III was not discouraged when a former guidance counselor told him it was unlikely he’d be accepted into Camden County College’s Transition to College Program for a second chance at receiving a high school diploma.
“I used that as motivation to keep on pushing,” the 18-year-old said. “I saw people who were in the program and said ‘if they can do it, I can do it.’”
Foat, of Sicklerville, was recognized recently at the Transition to College’s Completion Ceremony along with 25 other students who had left high school early or were at risk of dropping out for earning their diplomas as the class of 2018.
The program, in its sixth year, provides a second chance for at-risk students, ages 16 to 21, from six partner high schools to pursue their education, according to Camden County College’s website.
The media advisory for the program says students “are able to get a head start on college credits in a collegiate environment that includes extra-curricular activities.”
Family and friends filtered into the college’s Civic Hall auditorium at the Blackwood campus, watching the soon-to-be graduates earn recognition for their achievements.
At the beginning of the ceremony, college President Donald Borden said, “we take hopelessness and turn it into hope; we take closed doors and kick them open.”
Terron Boone, 18, also of Sicklerville, said that before the program he was on the edge of getting kicked out of high school.
“This program was a blessing, I didn’t think I’d be here right now,” he said.
Each student’s senior bio and future goals were read to the audience before receiving their diplomas.
Kayla Bagwell, 18, of Sicklerville, plans to earn a college degree and go to cosmetology school, with hopes of owning her own hair shop.
In regards to completing her diploma, Bagwell credits the instructors of the Transition to College program.
She says that she has been shown care unlike anything experienced in her prior education.
“Being here showed me what love felt like, coming from an educator,” she said.
When Foat was asked what advice he would give to someone thinking about pursuing their diploma again, he would say to “stick with it and get back into it.”
Like his fellow graduates, Foat realizes that the completion of this program is the beginning of his future. He said no one his age should believe that they will not become something in life.
