News
Daily hour walk results in GED for Nashville woman
6/21/2010
The distance between Michelle McCann and her high school diploma was a one-hour daily trek.
Without a car or money for bus fare, that’s how far the 20-year-old walked every day for 10 months from her family’s South Nashville apartment to the Martha O’Bryan Center to take classes to earn a GED.
Dropping out of high school was something she never imagined. After all, the Memphis native enjoyed school, rarely even missing a day. But with just three months left before graduation last year, her family was evicted from their Memphis home, and they relocated to Nashville for a better life.
The transition proved far from easy. She tried to enroll at McGavock High, but Metro Schools don’t allow students over 18 in traditional high schools.
“It was just frustrating because I loved school so much,” she said. “I tried to stay there (Memphis) for school, but no one would take me in. I really wanted to go to college and just thought my world was going to end.”
McCann could have easily become another statistic, opting to get a job that doesn’t require a high school diploma. But she had better plans for her life, and one day decided not to let her circumstance get the best of her.
She enrolled in the adult education program at the Martha O’Bryan Center, not knowing how she would even make it there to attend the classes. Walking for miles in the blazing Southern heat or enduring the wintry cold seemed like the only option.
She convinced two of her brothers to also enroll, who also made the commute with her.
Her stamina paid off. This Sunday she will join 87 other students at Martha O’Bryan who have all recently completed requirements to earn their GED, for a ceremony to celebrate their success.
“Michelle has been determined throughout her time here,” said Judy Rye, Martha O’Bryan’s adult education teacher.
“We have lots of people that come in and out here, but those who really want to achieve operate in a different way. It took her a while to get her mind focused and develop habits of study, but once focused, she was unstoppable.”
