Better Late Than Never: A Mom’s Journey Back to Graduation
Better Late Than Never: Gabrielle Giddens Earns Her Diploma Alongside Her Son’s Generation
For Gabrielle Giddens, life had a way of moving fast. At just 16 years old, she made the difficult decision to leave high school after discovering she was pregnant. “I just had to become a mom and work,” she recalls. School, once a fixture of her daily life, quickly became a distant memory.
Gabrielle threw herself into motherhood and eventually built a career as a dog groomer, finding her rhythm in the demands of everyday life. With a busy schedule and five children to raise, earning a high school diploma was never at the top of her to-do list. “I wasn’t too thrilled about going back to school,” she admits.
But everything changed when she enrolled in the Career Online High School program through the Ventura County Library. What she expected to be a daunting return to the classroom turned out to be something far more rewarding. “The program is really awesome. I’m super thankful to have this opportunity,” she says.
Now, Gabrielle has done something remarkable: she earned her high school diploma, and she did it before her own 17-year-old son crosses the graduation stage in 2026. The mother who once stepped away from school to give her child a future has now secured a brighter one for herself.
Gabrielle’s story is a reminder that it is never too late to finish what you started. Visit the Ventura County Library website https://ventura.mycareerhs.com/ to learn more about Career Online High School.