Mother's graduation was ruined

To the editor:

Graduation is near for many high school students. Even so, not all seniors will have the joy of participating in graduation ceremonies. These are students who graduated at the end of fall semester rather than spring. I know firsthand how this affects people. My mom, one such student in 1978 at Jackson High School, chose to graduate at semester because she was already married and pregnant with me. It has always bothered my mom that she could not enjoy the festivities with her fellow classmates or gain the recognition she had worked so hard for. She would have been valedictorian. Instead, she was forced to be a bystander.

I can't help but feel that I was the sole cause of ruining her high school graduation and almost not getting her scholarship to Southeast Missouri State University. The school also denied her a President's Scholarship. She was lucky, though. After showing SEMO her grades and qualifications, the university forced Jackson to give her the scholarship.

These students attend school for over 12 years not by choice, but by law. Even though the laws state that you have to attend, they do not state that you have to graduate. So don't punish these students for working hard and finishing early. Don't punish these young men and women who, like my mother, face a myriad of difficult situations. If all it comes down to is money, I will gladly help some student have what my mother was so rudely denied. Would you?

DANA JOHNSTON, Jackson