Chantelle Redner (far right), director for the Churchill County School District Adult Learning program, stands with the Class of 2025.
Photo by Steve Ranson.
Persistence. Determination. Hard work.
Down, but not out, 27 graduates — many of them adults who didn’t finish their course requirements during their high school days — successfully completed the degree requirements and received their diplomas May 22 at the Churchill County School District’s Adult Education graduation.
After the graduates walked the Churchill County High School auditorium aisle to their seats, Chantelle Redner, director of the Adult Diploma program, congratulated the students for their achievements.
Redner told the graduates and about 125 people attending the graduation that adults learning differently than children because of work, family and personal challenges. She said adult learners seek to improve their lives.
“You have earned very bit of this graduation,” Redner said. “As your teacher, I am so proud of you on this journey where it began, how you overcome and how far who have overcome.”
The graduation’s keynote speaker was Dr. Mandie Lister, a lifelong resident of Churchill County. Redner said after high school Lister transitioned from a law enforcement dispatcher to earning a master’s degree in counseling and a second master and doctorate degrees in educational leadership.
With her dedicated service in education, Redner said Lister has held various leadership roles — teacher, counselor, dean and principal. She has also served as the coordinator of the Northside Early Learning Center and the Churchill County online program where she secured a $1.1 million funding to support early childhood education and trauma informed services across the district.
Most recently, Redner said Lister was involved in a statewide suicide prevention initiative developed in partnership with Churchill County and several community organizations.
Lister commended the students for their determination and perseverance and a deeply personal victory
“Adult education is not the faint of heart,” she said. “It means showing up when you are tired, studying during lunch breaks or after long shifts, and balancing school with parenting, care giving in multiple jobs. It means choosing growth over comfort day after day.”
Lister asked the graduates to think of their own journey of being in school or completing a math assignment which may have seemed like climbing a mountain.
“But you did it,” she said. “You kept showing up.”
Lister said she know the routine personally because her path has been shaped by the same challenges when she was a single mother and working fulltime.
“My days were long and my nights even longer,” she said.
After tucking her children into bed, Lister said she would sit at the kitchen table to do her homework. She asked herself if balancing a family and college homework was worth it.
Over the years, Lister said her determination became momentum.
“I completed two master’s degrees and eventually a doctorate,” she said.
Lister then reflected on her personal journey.
“I know the mountain you climbed because I climbed one, too,” Lister said. “As I stand here tonight, I can say without a doubt, it was worth it.”
Lister said everyone in the auditorium for the graduation has had a setback, but the choice is how to move beyond it. She said many have thought of quitting, but they haven’t.
As she neared the completion of her speech, Lister said she sees people who believe in their potential and have rewritten their story. She encouraged the graduates to step out and discover their own journey.
After several speakers thanked their parents, Jordan Avila offered his perspective on graduation and what it means to him when he began his current journey three years after his graduating class. Now, he looks forward to the next level of education.
“Now, I get to start college with my sister (who graduated from WNC on May 22),” he said.
The audience gave him thunderous applause. Avila then thanked the adult education staff and his wife for providing him support and pushing him when it was needed.
“I will try my hardest no matter what,” he added.
Redner then called each graduate, and Churchill County School District Superintendent Derild Parsons handed out diplomas.