The Avenal State Prison (ASP) high school diploma program is seeing success since it was founded in 2019.
It was in 2019 when Vice Principal Linda Babcock tasked Matthew Moreno with starting the program. Already teaching a GED program on Facility E for nearly two years, he was up for the challenge.
Moreno was trained at Valley State Prison (VSP) by a high school diploma teacher Cindy Greer, who had more than 100 graduates from her program. Accompanying Moreno for training were teacher’s assistants Jesse Gonzalez and Jessica Frye.
Provided by the Office of Correctional Education, the diploma program is fully supported by the executive team at ASP.
Multiple students graduate from the program each month but the institution honors all of them in one annual ceremony.
During the program is scheduled with the Warden, all Associate Wardens, education administration team, and the facility Captains to come visit the program, talk to all students, and take pictures with the graduates, while following social distancing guidelines.
These “meet and greets” motivate the graduates to pursue higher education.
ASP high school diploma program
- Program has been up and running for 17 months.
- 45 students currently enrolled.
- 25 graduates since starting in June 2019
- 10 of those graduated during the pandemic.
By Lt. James Campbell