By Dan Shriner
Review Editor
The 47 graduates of Lake Orion’s Learning Options High School and adult education program were urged to continue to set goals and achieve them during their graduation ceremony held Monday night at Lake Orion High School.
For many of the grads, which included a mother and daughter, it was an opportunity to learn that they can do what they choose to do no matter the obstacles. Some of those in the program had to overcome personal obstacles and persevere in order to graduate with a degree from Lake Orion High School.
‘The best part about it was giving people who had given up a second chance,? one of the graduates said to a teacher.
The 47 graduates represented the largest graduation class ever in Lake Orion’s program, which is a model program in Oakland County, according to LO Superintendent Marion Ginopolis.
Orion Township Supervisor Chris Barnett addressed the grads and told them that they can continue to achieve and overcome obstacles.
He told them about American inventor Thomas Edison who, as a child, was determined by his teachers to be ‘addled? which is a term meaning he was unable to think clearly. Edison did not allow that designation to control his life and he worked hard to become the most prolific inventor in United States history.
Barnett also told the grads about obstacles he and his wife overcame as teenagers to achieve their goals in life. He told the group to continue to set goals and achieve them.
Barnett read a quote from automaker Henry Ford about having a positive attitude and achieving goals.
‘The man who thinks he can and the man who thinks he can’t are both right. Which one are you?? Ford asked.