This back to school season there are thousands of adults hitting the books who may never get the recognition they deserve. But for the 29 million Americans who didn’t graduate with a high school diploma, going back to school to get a high school equivalency degree is worth the effort. Over the course of a lifetime, those with a high school degree are expected to earn more than 30% more than their peers without a diploma.
The Ad Council and the nonprofit Dollar General Literacy Foundation partnered with McKinney to launch new PSAs and a new push to congratulate these adult learners. The goal is to celebrate these hardworking adults and inspire many more adults to push their education forward. The new work is awe-inspiring—capturing the real reactions of four people who recently finished high school at ages ranging from 24 to 38.
This Best Work selection is "The Story of Karim" which introduces us to a man who spent most of his life in foster care and dropped out of school with only a few classes left. At age 26, with the encouragement of his wife and 2-year-old daughter, he completed his degree.
Kyle Ruddick of production company HeLo directed the PSAs.
The strategy behind the work “No one gets their diploma alone,” emphasizes the huge role families, friends and supporters make in the journey to get a high school equivalency degree.
