In 2007, a car accident left Brittany Mills without a ride to school.
She ultimately dropped out of William Fleming High School, and though she’d looked into getting her GED diploma, life got in the way.
Now, 19 years later, thanks to the Excel Center in Roanoke — Virginia’s first high school for adults — Mills is a high school graduate.
She was awarded her high school diploma Friday — the very first graduate of the school — during an end-of-term ceremony.
In the time since the school, which is operated by Goodwill Industries of the Valleys, opened last August, Mills also earned her dental assistant certification after 10 weeks of classes.
“I’ve been waiting to get my high school diploma,” Mills said after Friday’s ceremony. She had only three months left of high school when she stopped attending, she said, “So when this opportunity became available, I didn’t second guess it.”
Next, Mills plans to complete two years at Virginia Western, or another Virginia community college, and go into dental hygiene. Such a transition into a specific career field is exactly what the Excel Center aims for, for each of its students.
The school’s focus on career development and resources such as life coaching aims to help students identify training and internship opportunities in their chosen field and, ultimately, to help students who want to attend college after completing their diploma with that transition, too.
Goodwill estimates that about 14,000 adults over age 25 in the greater Roanoke region didn’t finish high school. Statewide, nearly 425,000 lack a high school diploma or the equivalent — limiting their lifetime earnings.
People with a high school diploma earn a median of 30% more per week than those who didn’t graduate, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Mills, who is 37 now and lives in Rocky Mount, knows that from experience.
“I’ve been serving tables my whole life because I didn’t have a high school diploma, so now I can get into bigger, better-paying jobs with benefits, which will help me and my kids down the line,” Mills said.
But the road to earning her diploma wasn’t easy — and isn’t for most adult learners.
‘We have whole adult lives’
The Excel Center opened its doors to the first group of 50 students in August 2025.
Adults who have not completed high school have several options for finishing their education, but the Excel Center offers students a traditional high school diploma, which represents a broader range of academic and critical thinking skills and is often seen as more prestigious, according to the U.S. Career Institute.
Classes are offered four days a week for eight-week terms. Some students take one class per session, while others take four — a full load, attending both in the morning and afternoon. A student who comes in without any completed high school coursework can graduate in two years.
Current students range in age from 19 to 66 and skew female. Many work at least one or multiple jobs — which was evident by those missing from Friday’s daytime ceremony — or are working to overcome language barriers.
Many are also raising children.
“For a lot of us, deciding to walk back into high school was not a simple or easy choice. This time around we have whole adult lives. Some of us have children. Some of us have parents that we care for. We have bills to pay and jobs; sometimes multiple jobs that we have to go to,” student Gwenivere Jolaoso said during Friday’s ceremony. “Some of us came here with doubts. … Then we watched Brittany.”
Jolaoso, like Mills, has been using the center’s free on-site childcare to attend classes four days a week since March.
“We did it together,” she said Friday, smiling at her son, who starts kindergarten this August. Mills’ son, Dominic, 4, also came to the center with her each day for class.
One of their classmates, who earned multiple accolades Friday, including the honor roll, had passed a required test Thursday — with a baby in tow.
On-site child care is just one of the wraparound services that also includes transportation assistance, laundry facilities and tutoring, meant to promote student success. The school is located in the Melrose Plaza complex in Northwest Roanoke, which houses a grocery store, cafe, bank, wellness center and public library branch.
“Everyone at The Excel Center wants to help; they look into your future and see what you want to do with your life,” Mills said prior to the ceremony. “My little boy got to come to school with me, and if I didn’t have that, it would have been a challenge.”
Mills said the teachers and school staff were also pivotal to her success. Executive director and principal Bruce Major characterized the school as a “family.”
And that extends beyond just the staff.
As teachers named “rising stars” and “superstars” for the term on Friday, classmates cheered each other on, praising accomplishments and acknowledging those who were absent.
When Major ducked out and then returned to the room in traditional graduation garb — a gown and hood — the crowd clapped and hollered. When “Pomp and Circumstance,” the familiar commencement song, was played for Mills, they stood and wiped away tears.
The school hopes to expand this coming year. Additional classrooms are waiting to be filled, and familiar faces plan to return.
Daquisha Bonds, who has attended the school since it opened, said her goal is to graduate next term.
She served as the emcee for Friday’s ceremony and shared her own praise for her classmates and the one-of-a-kind school.
“The students in this room did more than attend school. You have shown that adult students with full lives, full responsibilities and real challenges can still grow. You have shown that education is not limited to one age or one path,” she said.
