COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A 32-year-old Ohio woman can finally call herself a high school graduate.
Chayla Wigton lined up with Brookhaven High School’s class of 2014 on Saturday, walked across the stage at the Greater Columbus Convention Center, and received her diploma with a group of students who weren’t yet in kindergarten when she was a senior in 2000.
Wigton earned enough credits to graduate 14 years ago, but couldn’t get her diploma because she failed the math section of the state graduation exam.
After failing four retakes the summer after her senior year, Wigton decided to move on with her life.
But last October, Wigton decided she wanted to take the test one more time. With the help of a tutor, she passed.
“It’s life-changing,” Wigton told The Columbus Dispatch, (https://bit.ly/1pJkhFw ). “I’ve wanted it for so long. I thought I was a failure when I didn’t have it.”
After failing to receive her diploma in 2000, Wigton joined the Bank One Academy, an internship program at several Columbus high schools that connects students with jobs after high school.
Since then, Wigton has supported herself without her diploma, becoming a bill collector at a local collections agency.
Wigton, a resident of Whitehall in suburban Columbus, applied to other jobs for a chance at a better paycheck but wasn’t qualified, prompting her to tackle the graduation exam once again.
“I was sick of it,” she said. “I had to let a job go because they asked for a high-school diploma, and I couldn’t produce it.”
Wigton’s mother hired a tutor, who spent two months helping Wigton prepare for math concepts she hadn’t studied since high school.
“There were so many questions about the circles and angles,” she recalled. “Put this angle in another angle. Does it fit? It was very overwhelming.”
She took the exam in October. Two months later, she was at home when she got a call with her results.
“I fell to the floor and started crying,” Wigton said. “I was just so happy.”
When she returned to Brookhaven on Thursday to practice for graduation, the first time since she was 18, “it was really a great feeling of accomplishment.”
“I had to leave there because of what I didn’t accomplish in 2000,” she said. “But I was back to get what I left.”
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Information from: The Columbus Dispatch, https://www.dispatch.com
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