'She's the perfect role model': Single mom graduates high school 20 years later
CBC
A Nova Scotia woman who failed high school by four points has returned to get her diploma — twenty years later.
Tracy MacDonald said she worked hard at high school as a teenager, but had an unstable home situation that caused her to struggle academically.
"When I was 16, my mother left a note and told me she didn't want no part of me, for me to go live with my father. At that point, my father was a bit of an alcoholic, so I knew it wasn't the best situation for me," MacDonald says.
She got a lawyer and 'emancipated' herself, a legal term meaning the teen was no longer the responsibility of her parents.
She finished high school and thought she would receive a diploma, but later found out she had 46 per cent in English, a failing grade, and couldn't graduate. She moved on with her life, but never forgot about high school.
"I thought about it all the time. I've always wanted to have my Grade 12. 'Maybe I'll go back,'" she says.
But the time was never right. She is a lone parent to five children, including four young ones at home, and has worked at all kinds of jobs to pay the bills: a lobster boat, Tim Hortons and a call centre.
She didn't like how the off-hours kept her away from her children after their school day, and then she lost her child care.
"At that point I had to leave my job so I could take care of my children.... And the only other option was for me to go to school to try to further my education so I could get into college so I could be more than just nothing."
MacDonald enrolled at the Queens Adult High School in Liverpool, N.S., and has spent the last year earning that missing English credit. She won a Literacy Nova Scotia bursary in the process.
Sonya Eddy has been her teacher and says MacDonald's story is uplifting.
"She's the perfect role model because she has every reason not to come back, but she comes back anyway, and she has this great success. And I see a lot of potential in her. I think that she's a student that should be telling her story to other adults and encouraging them, because it's inspirational to hear," Eddy says.
MacDonald earned her missing English credit and graduated in June. She hopes to study to become a teacher's assistant — and someday a teacher. She already works as a substitute assistant at Queens Middle School.
"And it's amazing and I love helping the children. They're good kids. Some of them need help, a little bit more so than others, but that's what my job is for."
To earn the title of master sake sommelier, Yoshi Takaoka says it's not just about knowledge, "we need to demonstrate how to serve the sake perfectly."
Over 115 years ago, more than 150 members of Calgary’s Black community gathered at a venue called Eagle Hall on First Street S.W. for what a local newspaper called “one of the most successful balls of the season.”
Spring is heralded by the return of geese, but to many in Alberta's poultry industry, migration means something different.
Ontario's legislature is set to resume sitting Monday after a 14-week break that ended in a veritable deluge of news, partial proposals and headline-grabbing musings from Premier Doug Ford and his government.
What started out as a class project has landed four University of Guelph students in the finals of the NHL and NHLPA Hockey Innovation Competition in Ottawa.
A new generation of kids on Prince Edward Island will get a chance to peep through the Polka Dot Door this summer.
Five athletes from Mistissini are gearing up to ride 1,000 kilometres this summer as part of Quebec’s Grand défi cycling challenge, but first they need to raise $13,500 to support the ride.
A Toronto non-profit says it's launched the province's first harm reduction program for adults with intellectual disabilities.
In Havana on Friday, Cuba's Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío Domínguez argued that Canada should maintain the commercial relationship with Cuba that has made it the country's largest foreign investor after Spain.
About 100 people gathered outside the Colonial Building in St. John’s on Saturday for an anti-war rally. They were met with some counter-protesters, highlighting different views on the Iran war.
The two candidates hoping to become Quebec's next premier in less than a month took part in a first official sparring match Saturday, with Christine Fréchette accusing her opponent of having a big ego and bringing the debate over shale gas back to the forefront.
Amanda Lathlin, the first First Nations woman to be elected to the legislative assembly in Manitoba's history, has died, the provincial NDP said on Saturday.
Colten Poitras describes Indian relay as an extreme sport.