The crowdβs chatter quieted down as the music began.
And one by one, young adults fashioning black gowns, caps and yellow tassels marched toward the stage. Then came the applause, whistling and cheering.
These are the graduates of the Las Artes Arts & Education Center, a Pima County alternative education program. After having overcome obstacles, whether itβs homelessness or substance abuse, the 17 graduates completed the program and received their GEDs. The ceremony was held Friday at Pima Community College downtown.
βIβm just so proud of them,β said Arnold Palacios, the schoolβs head. βTheyβre taking a transitional step we all need to take to participate in the community.β
Las Artes typically serves students between 17 and 22 years old, he said. Its students are often those who are identified as disconnected or at risk and confronting hardships.
The program combines classroom instruction with art activities, including painting murals all over Pima County.
Creating art together is intended to teach the young people about starting something and finishing it, accountability and responsibility, he said. It also teaches them to work with one another.
βItβs to develop employability skills,β Palacios said.
Natatasha βNatashaβ Jones came to the school nine months ago after having left three traditional public high schools.
Regular high school just wasnβt for her, she said. She transferred from Desert View High School to Sunnyside High School. She dropped out from Sunnyside and got kicked out of her next school, Cholla Magnet, for fighting.
Now, sheβs one of Las Artesβ valedictorians.
βIt was a really amazing experience,β she said of the program. It taught her how to be a grown up, and the teachers there really showed that they care. And her favorite part was painting the murals.
Jones said she is pregnant, so she will wait about a year until she pursues higher education, but she eventually wants to get into cosmetology, caregiving or nursing.
βItβs not just myself that I have to take care of,β she said.
An alumna of the school spoke at the ceremony. Giavanna Miller, who received her GED in 2007, spoke of her teen days, working at a fast food restaurant and having issues with alcohol and run-ins with police.
After getting her GED through Las Artes, she joined the Army, which took her around the world, including Germany.
Now sheβs going for her bachelorβs degree at Arizona State University. She wants to pursue a career in advocating for children.
Miller said she wanted to remind the students to embrace and accept the support from their family and friends, which is a skill that she said she learned from Las Artes.
βI just really hope that they donβt feel restricted from whatβs in front of them,β whether thatβs the neighborhoods they grew up in or their financial situation, she said.
Jones, the valedictorian, broke out into tears as she read a list of names of people she wanted to thank. The list included family members, friends and staff members of Las Artes.
She also thanked those who told her she would never make it.
βI will continue to prove you wrong.β
