FOLEY — The message was clear: It’s never too late to graduate.

Local residents walked across the stage March 18 at the Foley Civic Center, receiving their diploma and graduating from the Foley-area General Education Development program, more commonly called the GED program.

The 2011 GED program graduating class included: Walter Brown, Samone Brown, Dawn Butler, Lawrence Greene, Corene Harrison, Amanda Hicks, Laura Hicks, Aaron Jackson, Richard McGaster, Heather McHugh, John Colby Miller, Michael Monte, Heather Toler, Tamika Washington and Victoria Williams.

Those who received certificates of achievement include: Damian Baker, Willie Billingsley, Mason Chavez, Rickie Dailey, Sabrina Gardner, Brenda Lopez, Sammy Prim, Tyra Prim and Ollie Mae Reed.

Some graduates expressed their joy and thoughts on receiving their diploma.

“I’m 70 years old, and I thank God I got my diploma,” Harrison said.

“For the people that think they can’t go anywhere, that’s a lie,” Jackson said.

Tyrone Thompson, a guest speaker at the event, spoke to the graduates about his troubled past and his unique road to receiving his diploma. He said he used to be someone who looked down on those who finished school, but then he turned his life around.

“I was one of the ones who would sit there and laugh at the other graduates and say that was nerdy,” Thompson said, noting he left school at age 15. “When I was 18 years old, I was facing a 30-year prison sentence. When I got in (to prison), something hit me. By the time I was 27 years old, I knew I was getting my GED. I didn’t want to walk away from prison another dumb, illiterate person.”

Other speakers told the graduates that earning their GED is evidence that they should never give up on their dreams.

“I’m sure that at some point in your life, and even with your GED, you said, ‘I can’t. I can’t do this. I can’t do that.’ Well, my momma told me that can’t never could do nothing,” Foley Police Chief David Wilson said. “That might not be proper grammar, but the point is to never quit, never stop dreaming and never stop just because there is an obstacle in your way.”

Faulkner State, the Literacy Council and the Foley Police Department team up to provide the program.

“They are called Foley Area Community Education, or F.A.C.E.,” Roper said. “The Foley Public Housing Authority also supports the program by providing a building for the classes.”

There were 15 graduates in the 2011 class as of the graduation ceremony, but that number could increase when more test results come in.

“We could have over 20,” Sgt. Richard Roper, of the Foley Police Department, said.

The program has grown since its inception in 2008, Roper said. It began with only three people graduating the first year.

“For our first graduation we only had three people,” Roper said.

Completing the program is beneficial to residents. Faulkner State Community College provides a scholarship for anyone who graduates, Roper said.

“The first semester is free” Roper said, “We have people going to Faulkner State and some going to the National Guard. We also have people going to the ready-to-work program, which Faulkner State also offers. It’s a federally-funded program where they go through six-to-eight months of training and then get a job.”

The program includes classes in math, reading, science, biology and geometry.

“It is an equivalent to a high school diploma,” Roper said. “After they go through the program, if they make 500 points on each of the subjects in the pre-test, then Faulkner will pay for the test … It costs $50 to take actual test if you don’t make a 500 on the pre-test.”

A score of 410 on each of the five subjects and a total score of 2250 is the requirement to pass the program by the state of Alabama, Roper said.

“You can’t get a 410 on each subject and pass because you don’t have the 2250,” Roper said. “You also can’t get a 2250 without having a 410 in each subject. You have to have both of them to get a diploma.”

However, to pass the pre-tests and move on to a new subject in the program provided by F.A.C.E., students must score at least a 440.

“Our requirements are higher,” Roper said. “We want to get them ready in the classroom.”

There is no exact timeline for the length of the program, Roper said, because it is tailored to each individual participant.

“The program depends on the person, how quickly he or she can absolve everything,” Roper said. “You move at your own pace.”

Roper said the program does require participants to spend a minimum of 12 hours in the class on a subject before he or she can move on to a new subject.