It wasn’t until Jimmy Jones’ diploma arrived in the mail last month that it really struck him: He is a college graduate.

Black with a gold seal, the Stark State College associate degree Jones earned in applied science made the 62-year-old high-school dropout pause to think about what he had accomplished. 

Walking across the stage to the whoops and cheers of his family was already a thrill, but seeing that paper? That was something else.

“It’s probably the biggest thing that I would say I’ve done, to come back to school and graduate,” Jones said. “Seeing that actual degree yesterday, that blew me away.”

‘It’s never too late’ to go back to school

Jones’ diploma was a decade in the making, and started with his 2013 decision to get his GED. He graduated with it in 2017 with the help of the LeBron James Family Foundation and is now one of just two parents of students enrolled in the I Promise School to get a GED, then a college diploma — a track the foundation set up for I Promise parents called I Promise Too.

“It’s never too late,” said Michele Campbell, the executive director of the LeBron James Family Foundation. “This is a direct answer to those people long ago who were the naysayers. Here’s proof positive that if you put in the work in being part of this family, your life can change.”

I Promise Too started in 2015 to help the parents and guardians of students in the foundation-funded I Promise School better their own lives by earning degrees. So far, the foundation said, 25 have graduated with their GEDs. Jones started to study for his GED before the I Promise Too program began but credited the program’s support with helping him get through. He is counted as a graduate with the program.

Additionally, 10 parents or guardians are pursuing associate degrees at Stark State, making use of a scholarship that began last spring and covers tuition at the school. One of the current Stark State students is a previous I Promise Too GED graduate. 

Jones, who began college with the help of federal grants, said he hopes to encourage more people who get their GEDs through the program to continue their education.

Better education, better job, better life

Fairy Eh, a refugee from Burma who graduated from Stark State last year after getting her GED with I Promise Too, said she hopes to use her degree to become a medical assistant. Eh, a mother of four, came to Ohio in 2014 and has a son in the I Promise School. She said that, without the assistance of the program, she would not have known where to start to improve her education.

“In this country, if you have a better education, you can have a better job, a better life,” she said. “I am feeling good. I am proud of myself.”

Eh said she has friends in the refugee community who also want to pursue more education but who think they first need to improve their English skills. She hopes to find a job with the Foundation-funded HealthQuarters, a medical center due to open in May on West Market Street across from House Three Thirty. 

Getting a job with her degree, Eh said, could improve her income and help her buy a house for her family.

“I think my life will change,” she said.

Jones feels as though his already has.

The father of four had his first child while he was still in high school; he left school in 1979 to begin working mornings at the Akron Beacon Journal and afternoons as a cook at Swensons. He went on to work for a company that made basement waterproofing materials, then at a quarry where he was injured “real bad.” He was on disability for a time.

Jones later started a clothing company from his driveway, then moved into the school uniform business, opening King’s Clothing in 2004. The store was open for almost a decade. 

Education wasn’t a family priority

Education, though, wasn’t a priority for his family. Jones’ parents didn’t graduate high school, and neither did two brothers or his daughters. Jones’ two daughters later got their GEDs, then went on to get more schooling.

Campbell, with the LeBron James Family Foundation, said seeing graduates like Jones and Eh will be impactful for the community as a whole. 

“What is a better motivator than to see your parent walking across the stage and getting their diploma?” she said. “It’s pretty special for all of us.”

In getting first his GED, then his associate degree, Jones said he felt like a family curse had been lifted. He’d like to be a drug counselor now, after studying chemical dependency.

“Even though my parents is gone, my older brother is gone, I feel like this changes things,” he said. “It tells me we all could’ve did it.”

Jamall Jones is Jones’ youngest son and a sophomore at Buchtel Community Learning Center. Jamall, who’s part of the I Promise program, said he was excited to see his dad on stage for his GED graduation

“I’m proud of him,” he said. “I love him.”