MIDDLESBORO — Those participating in the 2010 Bell County GED graduation, which was held on the campus of Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College (SKCTC), received more than just their diplomas on Thursday evening — they received valuable lessons on the importance of making good choices.

Myrtle Buis, 46, of Middlesboro recently made the choice to return to education — and on Thursday, she proudly walked before family and friends as a GED graduate.

According to Buis, she originally took her first GED test in 1993 and failed by a slim margin. After that, Buis said she decided to have a family — and said as a single parent, it was difficult to make time for education.

“When life happens, sometimes, there is just no time to go to school,” said Buis.

Buis spent the next 17 years raising her children and acting as caregiver to her grandson. When her daughter regained custody of her son a year ago, Buis decided it was time to further her education.

“So I decided, I’m not doing anything, might as well go back to school,” she declared.

On January 19, 2010, Buis returned to school and started working towards her GED.

In total, Buis put in more than 600 classroom hours, from January to May, studying for the test — and said that sometimes she worked as much as twelve hours a day.

Buis received word that she passed the test in May.

“It’s wonderful feeling. I never thought I would get it... after so many years you forget so much. You just have to be determined if you really want it. You have to work for it. It’s not easy to get,” stated Buis.

In the fall, Buis hopes to further her education and start X-ray technician classes at Southeast Community College (SECC).

During his address at the graduation ceremony, SKCTC Director of Institutional Effectiveness Dr. Rick Mason spoke about “the direct correlation between education levels and household income,” saying that the recent graduates have not only made an impact in their own lives, but impacted the area — in terms of literacy rates and such.

“These people have done something pretty significant, and this is just the beginning,” expressed Mason.

“Sometimes the higher you go, the more you can see... Start thinking about what’s possible,” he concluded.

Dr. Leah Shannon Cobb, MD, was this year’s guest speaker and she spoke to those attending about choices.

“I have decided that our lives can essentially be distilled down to the choices we make. We can all look back on our lives and identify with clarity those pivotal decisions that took us down one path versus the other. Choices can make you or break you... So I am here tonight to celebrate the choice you have made to recapture your education, harness its power, and hang on for what I hope will become an incredible ride,” she conveyed.

Cobb, a native of Middlesboro, said that she dropped out of high school in the first weeks of her senior year due to social pressures. After working at several low-wage jobs, she made the choice to return to education.

Cobb claimed she went to the bookstore in the mall and bought a GED study guide. She studied for several weeks, took the test and passed — and so began her pursuit of education.

A few years later Cobb enrolled at Southeast Community College, and embraced her opportunity to overcome and succeed.

“If it had not been for Southeast, I don’t believe I could have done it,” she conveyed.

After her stint at SECC, Cobb then graduated from the University of Kentucky College of Medicine with honors and did her residency (and subspecialty fellowship) at Emory University in Atlanta, Ga.

“I made some choices in my life that could have unraveled me, but in the end, I made some really good ones,” she stated.

Cobb is now a board certified psychiatrist in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and mainly provides adult patient care as a medical director for the 100-bed inpatient psychiatric hospital at Hazard Appalachian Regional Hospital (ARH).

“So the challenge to each and every one of you graduating tonight is to think about all the choices that are available to you now... I pray for each of you that tonight’s ceremony is not the end of your pursuit of education — but the beginning,” Cobb concluded.

Adam Young is a Staff Writer for the Middlesboro Daily News. He can be contacted by e-mail at ayoung@heartlandpublications.com.