High school reunions were stark reminders of what could have been for Connie Ford.

Store shelves full of greeting cards honoring students’ graduation had the same effect on this dropout.

“I always had that regret, thinking, ‘Why didn’t you finish it?'” she said.

Well, she finally has. The end of her high school education is coming more than 30 years after it started.

Ford, 49, will be among 110 students to receive General Educational Development (GED) diplomas during a cap-and-gown ceremony 7 p.m. Wednesday at Free State High School, 4700 Overland Drive. Each guest of honor earned a GED at the Lawrence public school district’s adult learning center.

“It’s a good group of folks,” said Linda McGuire, center coordinator. “They really worked hard, and many of them have family and jobs. It’s quite an accomplishment.”

Ford, who will address fellow graduates at commencement, is the kind of success story the GED program attempts to cultivate.

“I believe education is the key to the future,” she said.

Ford spent her youth in Eudora, Shawnee and Lawrence. As a sophomore at Lawrence High School in the late 1960s, she fell in love. Her beau entered the U.S. Army, and she dropped out to follow him.

Her classmates back in Kansas went through high school graduation in 1971. By then, she was a soldier’s wife in San Diego.

The Fords moved to Eudora in 1974 and had two daughters, Margie and Tara.

But, Ford said, those images of greeting cards and reunion celebrations continued to surface as the years passed.

“Last year, if I had stayed in school, I would have had a 30th reunion,” she said.

It was Ford’s youngest daughter, Tara, who ignited her desire to finish the high school education.

“She urged me to give it a try,” Ford said.

She planned to begin GED test-preparation classes in March 2001, but her mother’s death delayed enrollment. Then her father-in-law died. Another postponement.

Finally, harboring anxiety about rusty academic skills, Ford took the plunge.

“I always thought I was really good in math, but algebra was a problem for me,” she said. “It was a challenge, and I wanted to meet that challenge.”

To get a GED, she had to pass tests in math as well as writing, social studies, science and reading.

She was a motivated student: “I looked forward to it. It was like a vacation to me.”

‘Nothing is impossible’

Ford completed the program before the end of 2001.

If she hadn’t wrapped it up by then, she would have had to start over. That’s because the American Council on Education in Washington, D.C., updated the five-part test for the first time since 1988. Starting in 2002, all students had to pass the new exams.

Ford said her GED instructors deserved credit for working effectively with the program’s challenged students.

“They’re patient,” Ford said. “They understand adults. We have problems, things come up. They’re just willing to teach you.”

Under the program, GED students are required to read, compute, interpret information and express themselves in writing on a level that meets or surpasses that demonstrated by 60 percent of graduating high school seniors. It takes seven hours to complete all the tests.

Ford said finishing the program made her feel confident in her ability to accomplish other personal goals.

“I feel I can go out and accomplish anything I want,’ she said. “Nothing is impossible as long as you put your foot forward and work hard.”

Ford is considering enrolling at Johnson County Community College.

“Here I am, 49 years old, and the teachers at the learning center have given me so much. I can keep flying. There’s no reason to stop.”