LOVE THESE HIGHS IN THE 70S. PERFECT WEATHER DREAM COME TRUE FOR A 99 YEAR OLD NAVAJO WOMAN. UNSER RITA LONG VISITOR. HOLY DANCE NEVER ENDED UP GRADUATING HIGH SCHOOL, BUT NOW THAT’S ALL CHANGED. PEYTON SPELLACY JOINS US LIVE FROM RIO RANCHO HIGH SCHOOL TO SHOW US HOW THEY JUST HONORED HER. GOOD MORNING. PEYTON. GOOD MORNING, ROYALE AND TODD. WHEN YOU USUALLY THINK ABOUT A TRADITIONAL GRADUATION, YOU THINK ABOUT A STUDENT’S BRIGHT FUTURE. HOWEVER, THIS GRADUATION WAS A CELEBRATION OF A LONG LIVED LIFE. HERE HE COMES IN. AND HE SAID, DAUGHTER RITA HAD JUST GRADUATED THE EIGHTH GRADE AND HAD ALL OF HER CLOTHES AND SUPPLIES READY FOR HIGH SCHOOL. WHEN HER DAD TOLD HER OF HER MOTHER’S ILLNESS AND HE SAID, YOU’RE NOT GOING TO BE GOING BACK TO SCHOOL. SHE HAD TO PUT HER HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA ON HOLD TO TAKE CARE OF HER MOM. I JUST PUT MY HEAD DOWN AND I DIDN’T SEE NOTHING UNTIL SHE FOUND A FRIEND. SHE CONFIDED IN. FLORA DE MAYO AND RITA ARE BOTH A PART OF THE 13 INDIGENOUS WOMEN’S ACTIVIST GROUP, AND THEY’RE BEST FRIENDS. THEY TALK EVERY DAY, OFTEN JOKING ABOUT LIFE. IF THEY WERE NEIGHBORS, I WOULD WALK OVER TO YOUR HOUSE AND I WOULD SAY TO HER, WHAT WOULD YOU WHAT WOULD YOU SERVE? AND ALSO TALKING ABOUT THE CHAPTER, RITA NEVER FINISHED. SHE WAS STILL TALKING ABOUT HOW SHE DIDN’T GET HER DIPLOMA BECAUSE EVERY TIME I SEE HER, SHE TALKS ABOUT THAT WITH THE HELP OF THE 13 INDIGENOUS GRANDMOTHERS AND RITA’S FAMILY IN NEW MEXICO, SHE WAS ABLE TO ACHIEVE WHAT SHE THOUGHT WAS OUT OF REACH, EARNING HER DIPLOMA FROM RIO RANCHO HIGH SCHOOL IN TO TALK WITH SOMEONE WHO’S LIVED ALMOST 100 YEARS. ALL THE THINGS SHE’S SEEN AND EXPERIENCED, ALL THE MEMORIES, ALL THE WISDOM. THE SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS THINKS THIS WILL BE SOMETHING THAT STICKS WITH HER STUDENTS. WHY ARE Y’ALL Y’ALL WAY? WHY ARE Y’ALL WAY? I HOPE THEY SAW HOW WHAT A MOMENTOUS EVENT THIS WAS TO WITNESS SOMETHING LIKE THIS. TO HEAR THAT MUSIC, TO HEAR THAT PRAYER AND THIS WASN’T SOMETHING RITA SAW COMING. WELL, THAT WAS A BIG SURPRISE. NOW, I ALSO SPOKE WITH HER SON, AND HE SAID THAT THE BIGGEST LESSON THAT HE LEARNED FROM HIS MOTHER WAS TO NEVER DO ANYTHING HALFWAY, AND THAT HER GETTING HER DIPLOMA YESTERDAY IS JUST A SIGN. ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF HER DETERMINATION. REPORTING LI

Elderly woman earns high school diploma after years of waiting

A 99-year-old woman in New Mexico has finally achieved what many take for granted: getting a high school diploma. Unci Rita Long Visitor Holy Dance had just graduated from the eighth grade and was ready for high school when her dad told her that her mom was ill. “He said, ‘You’re not going back to school,'” Rita recalled. She had to put her schooling on hold so she could take care of her ill mother. “I just put my head down. I didn’t say anything,” Rita said in an interview. She didn’t say anything until she found Grandmother Flordemayo, a spiritual healer. She and Flordemayo would talk every day and then talk about the chapter Rita never finished. “She was still talking about how she never got her diploma,” said Flordemayo. “Every time I see her, she talks about them.”With the help of a group and Rita’s family in New Mexico, she was finally able to achieve what she thought was out of reach: earning her diploma. The superintendent of Rio Rancho Schools, V. Sue Cleveland, said she thinks this is a moment that will stick with her students. “I hope they saw how what a momentous event this was to witness something like this, to hear that news, like to hear that prayer,” said Cleveland.

A 99-year-old woman in New Mexico has finally achieved what many take for granted: getting a high school diploma.

Unci Rita Long Visitor Holy Dance had just graduated from the eighth grade and was ready for high school when her dad told her that her mom was ill.

“He said, ‘You’re not going back to school,'” Rita recalled.

She had to put her schooling on hold so she could take care of her ill mother.

“I just put my head down. I didn’t say anything,” Rita said in an interview.

She didn’t say anything until she found Grandmother Flordemayo, a spiritual healer. She and Flordemayo would talk every day and then talk about the chapter Rita never finished.

“She was still talking about how she never got her diploma,” said Flordemayo. “Every time I see her, she talks about them.”

With the help of a group and Rita’s family in New Mexico, she was finally able to achieve what she thought was out of reach: earning her diploma.

The superintendent of Rio Rancho Schools, V. Sue Cleveland, said she thinks this is a moment that will stick with her students.

“I hope they saw how what a momentous event this was to witness something like this, to hear that news, like to hear that prayer,” said Cleveland.



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