Tom Hardy had told himself the lie for so long that he started to believe it, even deep down in his gut.
So to prove that he wasn't a dummy, that he wasn't less than anyone else, Hardy set his sights on earning his GED.
The accomplishment that he once doubted has led Hardy to a new job, and Thursday night he delivered the commencement address for Pima Community College Adult Education 2008 GED graduation ceremony. Hardy's message was clear and simple: "You can do it."
"All my life, I've suffered through low self-esteem and low self-confidence," said Hardy, who grew up in a missionary family and though he spent his youth traveling the world, missed out on an education. "I always felt like I was less than everybody else. So I wanted to dispel, deep down, the lie I told myself. I wanted to prove to myself I wasn't a dummy."
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Hardy, 43, missed first through sixth grades and was incarcerated as a ninth-grader. He's sold cars, worked in oil fields and enjoyed success with money, but he always felt education was the missing piece. He started at El Rio Learning Center last summer, biking to classes four days a week. His teachers gave him hope and confidence and turned around his poor reading comprehension.
"They taught me to find the answers for myself," he said. "They challenged me and taught me to think for myself, and I'm grateful for this program."
Hardy now works at a detox facility — the same one that helped him along the way.
"I was a client there so many times I've lost count," he said. "Now getting my GED I'm able to work there and give back. I've felt the pain of low self-esteem and I know what it's like to feel less than. Now I have the opportunity to share a message of hope with people who are hurting and feeling hopeless."
Hardy was one of about 300 General Educational Development diploma recipients who attended the ceremony.
More than 1,400 students received a GED, or high school-equivalency diploma, this year through PCC's Adult Education program.
Gabriel F. Delgado, 42, and his son, Gabriel S. Delgado, 18, finished their GED testing just weeks apart and got to celebrate their achievements together at the ceremony.
The senior Delgado lost his job, and when he was looking for work, even a job at the mine required at least a GED, so he signed up in January.
He left high school before he would have graduated in 1984, and even helped tutor his brother-in-law and mother-in-law for their GEDs but never took the test himself.
"I thought I didn't need it, that I could just go to work," he said, and found starting over difficult. "It was rough at first. I'd forgotten a lot, just the processes of doing different math. But I figured I could be a pretty good example if I was able to pass."
The confidence he gained going through the GED process inspired his son, who had grown bored and left school but wanted to finish at the same time as his classmates at Sahuarita High School.
"When I heard he graduated, that just pushed me. I knew I could do it, and he knew I could do it," said the younger Delgado, who plans to start in the fall at Pima and work toward an electrical-engineering degree. "I can make my education go farther now. (Pima College has) helped me with the GED, and now they can help me with college."
