MTC’s Lindsey State Jail recently held a GED graduation. Kirk Cevallos sat down in front of the video camera and expressed his feelings:

“Today I graduated. Today was one of the best days I’ve ever had since I can remember. I paid attention, I had a goal in mind. I set it; I accomplished it. Now I feel like I can accomplish anything. During my testing, my kids would write me: ‘You can do this, Dad, you can do this. You’re capable of doing it.’ I showed them that I am, so now it’s my turn to show them that they’re capable, that they can do it.

I felt a great sense of accomplishment. I felt like today opened another door up, like I can still do it, like I have every opportunity ahead of me.

We have great teachers here, everything from the staff, GED administrators, everybody played their part and their role. And as a team we got to where we are today.

I couldn’t have done it by myself. Without them, this wouldn’t have been possible. Without out the opportunity I would never have been able to do it. Families, friends, got to be proud of us once again. It opened up a lot of opportunities that we as offenders need. We need to be able to understand that we can do things. We’re still part of society. I believe what MTC & Lindsey have done, gave it back to us today.”