Montreace Fields had her first child at 15, left Pinellas County Schools, and figured her days of walking a graduation stage were long gone. This week, at 43, she did it anyway, earning her GED through the very district she once left behind, and setting her sights on a future far beyond the classroom.
Fields was among more than 100 people who attended Pinellas County Schools’ annual countywide graduation ceremony in person at St. Petersburg High School, according to WFLA. The ceremony brings together adult high school program students and GED recipients each year, with this year’s attendees ranging in age from 16 to 61. Fields worked as a certified nursing assistant for more than a decade before deciding to go back to school.
Her path back to a diploma wasn’t straightforward. Fields had attended a private institution and was later told, she said, that her high school was not accredited — leaving her without a credential that counted when she needed one. Returning to class as an adult, she said, was not easy. “I knew I had to do it,” Fields said, according to the same report.
Why an Old Diploma Didn't Count
Fields’ situation points to a quirk in Florida law that trips up more adult students than many realize. Under Section 1002.42 of the Florida Statutes, the state Department of Education does not accredit, regulate, or approve K-12 private schools, according to the Florida Department of Education. Private schools must register annually with the state, but that listing does not amount to accreditation, leaving diploma acceptance entirely up to individual colleges and employers to decide on their own.
That regulatory gap is part of why Florida’s public adult education system exists as an affordable fallback. State law caps tuition for district adult general education programs, like GED preparation, at $45 per half-year, per the Florida Senate. Earning the credential itself requires passing four separate computer-based subtests in math, science, social studies, and reasoning through language arts, at $32 each, for a total exam cost of $128, according to Florida State College at Jacksonville.
From Bedside Care to a Bachelor's Degree
Fields plans to begin a career in the medical field and is aiming higher than her CNA role of more than a decade. She said she aspires to become a nurse practitioner and plans to pursue a bachelor’s degree, with a return to class set for September. That trajectory tracks with the standard clinical pathway for advanced-practice nursing, which typically requires an associate or bachelor’s degree in nursing followed by a master’s or doctoral graduate degree, according to research compiled by NursingEducation.org.
Andy Shaw, a Pinellas County Schools official, said the district will work with people to help them get the education they need, per the same WFLA report. Pinellas County Schools is Florida’s 10th largest school district and has earned an “A” rating from the state education department for three consecutive years through 2026, running adult learning programs across dedicated adult centers and multiple St. Petersburg College campuses.
A Ceremony Inside a Century-Old Building
St. Petersburg High School, the Mediterranean Revival building where graduates walked the stage, was completed in 1926 and underwent a $44 million restoration by the district in 2021, according to FOX 13 Tampa Bay. The building sits on the National Register of Historic Places and marked its centennial this year. It is the kind of setting the district returns to annually for a ceremony built specifically to honor GED recipients and adult learners alongside traditional summer-school completers.
Fields’ age sets her apart from the typical adult learner nationally. The average GED test-taker is around 25 to 26 years old, according to the GED Testing Service, which points to family responsibilities and career advancement as common reasons adults return for the credential later in life. Pinellas County’s ceremonies have featured a wide age range before; a previous countywide event at St. Petersburg High School recognized 115 graduates, including an 80-year-old survivor of Florida’s former Dozier School for Boys, according to WTSP.
Fields said she did not think she would ever wear a cap and gown. Nationally, more than 23 million working-age adults lack a high school diploma or equivalent credential, roughly 11% of the U.S. workforce, according to data compiled by Best GED Classes. For Fields, closing that gap wasn’t the end goal but the first step toward a nursing career she says she’s now determined to finish.
