Students get second chance with GED program at Milwaukee Area Technical College

When Tabitha Young’s 10-year-old son asked her if she graduated high school, she had to tell him “no.” It was one of the hardest conversations she ever had to have with her children. 

Around the same time, Young’s younger sister was completing her GED, or High School Equivalent Diploma, which got her thinking she should do the same. 

“It just gave me all the inspiration I needed to continue,” Young said. “I wanted to, but stuff just kept getting in the way. But when he asked me that question and I watched her walk across the stage, it made me honestly say, ‘OK, this has to get completed.’”

Young, 35, was one of nearly 300 students to earn her GED last week from Milwaukee Area Technical College. 

It’s graduation season and high school and college seniors across Wisconsin are crossing the stage to claim their hard-earned diplomas. 

But the celebration on May 20 at MATC was different because the students there returned to school after dropping out as teens.

For many, going back meant jugging jobs, parenthood and stigma. For some, crossing the stage was in a journey of recovery from past hardships and past mistakes.

Young grew up in Racine and Milwaukee. She became “parent” to her younger sister at age 13. The girls ended up in Fond du Lac and Young was kicked out of high school early her senior year. 

Young spent years getting in trouble for serious crimes including battery and theft. She ended up serving three years in prison. 

Today, Young has four children and works as a home health care aid. 

She said her life has turned around, but other than work and being a mom, she hasn’t felt like she has much of a future. Until now. 

“I always thought that life duties and mom duties were more important than getting a GED,” Young said. “But when I finally got it, and was actually doing it, it was like, ‘Oh my God, this is going to open so many doors.’” 

When Young was on stage last week, her children were in the audience.

“They were just yelling and screaming. It was just amazing,” Young said. “It just really made me feel like I had accomplished something more than being their mother. It made me feel really happy.”

Wanting to provide a better future for her daughters

Samira Alsabki went to high school for three months her freshman year and never went back. 

After dropping out of Milwaukee Public Schools’ South Division High School, Alsabki got involved in gangs. 

At 19 she gave birth to her first daughter. A second daughter came eight years later. 

Alsabki said as a single mom, she wanted to provide a better future for her girls. But at 40, she was nervous about going back to school. 

“I struggled a lot of years, working multiple jobs, having to go back to mom and dad, not feeling self-worth,” Alsabki said. “But then I would see how my daughters looked up to me and I said, ‘You know what? I’m going to do this.’” 

Alsabki signed up for the HSED program in December 2023. She was completing her courses at the Social Development Commission in collaboration with MATC. The SDC was near her house. 

But in April, the SDC abruptly closed, leaving Alsabki and 38 other students without a place to complete their degrees. 

“I was scared that this was another thing that life was going to take away from me,” Alsabki said. 

MATC took in the displaced students: 15 finished their program at MATC’s West Allis Campus and 24, including Alsabki, finished online.

After getting her degree last week, Alsabki turned around and re-enrolled at MATC. She plans to continue her education to get a medical coding degree. 

“I never thought I could do it, but if I could get through that, I can get through anything,” Alsabki said. “So I want to do that and I’m enrolled in classes in the fall.”