Ceremony honors 2,600 adult graduates

"Every day is a good day to graduate."

Desert Rose Adult High School and Career Center Principal Sandra Ransel believes that so strongly that she awards diplomas to her students as soon as they complete their requirements.

"They have to get on with their lives," explained Ransel, whose school is for adults who did not finish high school. "They have kids. They have jobs. They have to go to the military."

Sometimes she gives out up to 10 diplomas a day. On Tuesday, the school held a formal ceremony for the 2,600 adult education students who graduated during the past school year.

During commencement at Orleans Arena, Robert Henry, the Clark County School District's director of adult education, praised the graduates for not "giving up on themselves."

The graduates included an 89-year-old man who said he once wrote jokes for comedian Bob Hope, a homeless teen living in a shelter and a Spanish-speaking homemaker who was embarrassed at having her children translate for her.

Desert Rose, a school of second chances, recognizes that life is not always a straight line from A to B, Ransel said.

The school is set up very much like that Las Vegas institution, the all-you-can-eat buffet. Like diners grabbing whatever dish they fancy, Desert Rose students can focus on obtaining whatever credits they need for graduation and proceed at their own pace. The school offers a flexible schedule, with classes in the morning, afternoon and evening.

Many students come to the school plagued with self-doubt and low self-esteem rooted in illiteracy. One middle-age man told Ransel he wanted to learn to read because he was tired of eating only at restaurants where the menus had pictures of the food.

Another student and business owner told Ransel that he was ashamed of having his wife write his checks.

Here are the stories from a few of Desert Rose's Class of 2011.

MICHAEL ZONE

When Michael Zone entered a classroom, his fellow students often assumed he was their teacher.

At 89, his age commanded respect.

"Everybody would come to me," Zone said of his return to school. "I'm not the teacher. They can't believe I'm doing the same thing they're doing."

Zone had several reasons for going back to school. He wanted to earn his diploma before he dies. He has been bored because his health no longer allows him to play golf. And he's trying to set a good example for his 13-year-old grandson, Matthew Zone.

Zone blames World War II for interrupting his high school experience. The Canadian native left school early to enlist and said he later witnessed the carnage of the Normandy landings in 1944.

Canadian troops did not have it as bad on D-Day as the Americans, he said, recalling the fallen bodies crowding the Normandy beaches.

"That was horrible," he said.

After the war, Zone followed a sister to Los Angeles. He said he became a reporter for the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner and a freelance joke writer for comedians such as Bob Hope.

He also was once deported for taking a job from Americans before he became a U.S. citizen. His job? Selling vacuum cleaners door to door.

Zone still shakes his head at the thought that someone else wanted to go door to door with vacuum cleaners, but the incident emphasizes the importance of getting an education.

"It feels good," Zone said of finally earning his diploma. "I want to be an inspiration for the other kids. Without a diploma, you can't do anything."

He celebrates his 90th birthday on July 26.

"How many men can say that? Certainly not too many in the newspaper business."

LEO TANJA

In December, Leo Tanja boarded a Greyhound bus to Las Vegas, where he didn't know a soul. He had $80 in his back pocket.

Tanja, 17, wanted to be someplace warm and far from his hometown of Kalamazoo, Mich. He was trying to escape an "abusive home."

Tanja ended up sleeping on bus benches for a few nights after his arrival. He played guitar on a street corner to raise cash but quickly learned that people did not want to know he was homeless.

"It was fine when I was playing my guitar on the street," he said. "They didn't mind me then. When I put it away, they treated me like something to stay away from."

The awkwardness of being homeless is that "you don't know where to go. Everywhere you go, you don't feel like you belong there. People don't really want you there."

Since December, he has lived in shelters, including some that he said are more like mental wards for youth with substance abuse problems.

Tanja enrolled at Desert Rose because "if you work hard, you can get a lot further than normal school."

He took classes morning, afternoon and night, earning a place on the Desert Rose honor roll with a 3.8 grade point average. He led the Pledge of Allegiance at Tuesday's graduation ceremony.

He plans to study engineering at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, but that depends on whether he can get scholarships. "I have no way of paying except for jobs, "Tanja said. "I want to avoid debt."

But he still is glad he gambled on Las Vegas.

"I saw this as my chance, and I took it."

KASANDRA SMITH

Two years ago, Kasandra Smith dropped out of Mojave High School and gave birth to her son, Darrion.

Smith, 17, sees graduating from Desert Rose as a personal validation.

"This is to prove everybody wrong," she said. "Having an (unplanned) baby is a mistake, but you can always make up for your mistakes. It's not an excuse why you can't graduate."

She took advantage of Desert Rose's flexible schedule by going to school in the morning and at night. She worked in the afternoon as a receptionist for Catholic Charities of Southern Nevada. "It's very stressful. It was very hard, but I am determined, and I had the support," she said.

She's thinking of becoming a probation officer to "encourage youth to stay out of trouble."

ANDREA KOWALSKI

Don't let her last name fool you.

"As you can see, I'm Hispanic," said Andrea Kowalski, 39, who is from Mexico.

Kowalski is her married name. Her husband, Karl Kowalski, is fluent in Spanish, but her English was lacking.

"I am a homemaker, but I want to do better," Kowalski said. "If you're in this country, you have to learn English. It's very embarrassing using my son to translate. I don't like that."

She and her husband have three children, ages 15, 13 and 6.

"When the little one went to kindergarten, I had extra time. So I came to Desert Rose," she said. "When I started school, my English was poor. I was in trouble, but I learned a lot here. Now I am going to graduate."

Kowalski is thinking about college.

"My husband told me he is going to support me."

Contact reporter James Haug at jhaug@reviewjournal.com or 702-374-7917.