Portland Adult Education Program Celebrates Accomplishments of Former Graduates
As the school year comes to a close, for many it is a time to reflect and appreciate all of the time and effort that has gone into the current and previous school years.
The staff at Portland Adult Education (PAE) were delighted recently to see, first-hand, the results of their hard work and determination when they realized that 33 of their former students had graduated from college this year, during a year like no other.
PAE Academic Advisor, Anja Hanson recently wrote in the PAE staff announcements:
We are in an exhausting phase of this pandemic year, but here is news to energize us. 33 PAE alumni have graduated from college in the past week! I could hardly believe it when I looked through the commencement programs for USM [University of Southern Maine] and SMCC [Southern Maine Community College], but nothing should surprise me about our incredible students.
Five PAE alumni graduated from University of Southern Maine on May 8, 2021, and one additional alumna was named a member of the Golden Key Honor Society for juniors and seniors. It is rare for PAE to have even one or two graduates from USM in a year, so this is wonderful news. Even more remarkably, three of the five alumni graduated cum laude and two of the five graduates received special awards from their degree programs.
When I turned my attention to SMCC, I was even more thrilled. 28 former students graduated from SMCC and two students earned certificates on May 16, 2021. Four of these students were also members of Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society.
As schools and other academic programs across Maine head into summer, it is helpful to look back at all we have accomplished this year and all that our students have achieved! Congratulations to the staff, students, alumni, and recent graduates at PAE on this remarkable news.
Information for this article was provided by Portland Adult Education Program as part of the Maine Schools Sharing Success Campaign. To submit a story or an idea, email it to Rachel at rachel.paling@maine.gov.