About 230 migrant and seasonal workers who have earned their general education diplomas, or GEDs, through the University of Colorado at Boulder's High School Equivalency Program will graduate on Friday, May 25.
The ceremony, expected to draw about 1,000 family members, starts at 7 p.m. in the University Memorial Center's Glenn Miller Ballroom on the CU-Boulder campus. Many of the graduates are from the High School Equivalency Program site in Brighton.
"The graduation ceremony for this group is especially significant because many of these individuals had to drop out of school to help support their families and thus missed out on an important rite of passage," said Leonard Baca, executive director of the BUENO Center for Multicultural Education in the CU-Boulder School of Education.
"For them to be able to make this up is a very joyful and emotional occasion especially since the average age of these graduates is 35."
The BUENO Center coordinates CU-Boulder's High School Equivalency Program, which has helped more than 10,000 people earn their GEDs. It is the nation's largest high school equivalency program for migrant and seasonal workers and graduates about 600 people per year, according to Baca.
The program provides assistance in career development and placement, vocational skills training, counseling, tutoring and academic advising. It has centers in Sterling, Fort Morgan, Greeley, Longmont, Brighton, Alamosa and La Junta. Graduations will be held at these locations through the end of June.
The BUENO Center was established in 1976 to improve educational opportunities for culturally and linguistically diverse students through teacher training, research projects and staff development and training. Since its creation, the center has brought in more than $50 million in private and federal funding.
This spring, the BUENO Center began a new partnership with the Denver Hispanic Chamber of Commerce's Hispanic Chamber Education Foundation to help Denver residents without high school degrees earn GEDs.
For more information about CU-Boulder's High School Equivalency Program visit the Web site at or call (303) 655-1806.
For more information about the BUENO Center visit .