Alicia Latoya Cassidy is excited to graduate from Library High School.
She is one of 30 graduates from the San Diego County Library program set to receive their diplomas Thursday at a 5 p.m. ceremony in the Samuel M. Ciccati Theatre at Cuyamaca College in El Cajon.Cassidy learned about the program when taking her kids to sign up for their first library cards — her eldest, Za’Niyah Bedford, was a seventh grader at the time. Cassidy said she had heard about other programs that help adults get their high school diplomas, but they had age cutoffs. “When I found out it didn’t matter what age you were, and it didn’t cost nothing, and we just had to basically put the work in, I asked for more information,” Cassidy said.
Cassidy’s mother was a drug addict, and her father, a gang member, was in and out of jail. She ended up in foster care and the juvenile detention system after running away from home.
She gave birth to Za’Niyah at 19, who attends a high school Cassidy went to when she was a teen.“When I was in foster care, I didn’t do too good there,” Cassidy said. “But she ended her sophomore year with a 4.6 GPA, and she’s on the National High School Scholars Program.”
According to government data from 2023, there are around 110,000 San Diego County residents over 25 who left high school without a degree.
Cassidy enrolled in the Library High School Program in 2020, but took a break when her grandmother died in 2021. She started going to therapy, got a solid job and reached back out to the library’s diploma program.
They gave her a second chance.
Cassidy studied between a graveyard shift working security and taking care of her four kids. She plans on pursuing a career as a medical coder, managing hospital billing.
Cassidy urged people in similar situations to never give up.
“I heard a lot of stuff — me growing up — that I wasn’t going to be nothing because my parents were nothing,” she said. “I grew up in foster care. Anything’s possible … everybody has a story, but it’s what you want from your story.”
Javien Devon Winford also will take the stage to receive his diploma. After Winford looked at other high school diploma programs that he said cost about $900 a month, his uncle introduced him to the library’s program.
After leaving Lincoln High School without a degree in 2017, Winford enrolled in the program in 2023 and spent about 15 months — but no money — on earning his credits.
Winford is now enrolled in a business program at San Diego City College. He said his son, also named Javien, and his wife Alondra motivated him to go back to school. “She’s from Tijuana,” he said. “She was a huge help, very inspirational, because she’s such a hard worker.”
Winford, Cassidy and the 28 other graduates will join 234 alumni who have earned their high school diplomas through the program since it began in 2016.
The San Diego County Library isn’t alone among systems helping adults earn diplomas. According to Inside San Diego, in tandem with the California State Library, the San Diego Public Library also funds a program for city residents to complete their high school degrees for free online, so long as they are 19 or older and have a library card.
According to their website, Library Foundation SD also funds scholarships for students.
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