Mark Wahlberg earns high school diploma

[bananas]

Source: USA Today

Working to complete his remaining high school credits was "humbling and challenging," he says.

<snip>

Actor and producer Mark Wahlberg, 42, shared in a Huffington Post op-ed Monday that he is officially a high school graduate after working to complete remaining credits over the past year.

Wahlberg, who previously had not advanced past the ninth grade before dropping out as a teen, wrote that he worked on his classes "any chance I could get — on the set, traveling for work and at home," completing his diploma this summer.

Empowering teens is a personal mission for the star, whose Mark Wahlberg Youth Foundation has teamed up with organizations such as the Taco Bell Foundation for Teens and its Graduate for Más program, which provides "tools, support and community" for students to stay on track with their education — resources he says he wishes he had had access to.

Wahlberg also uses the op-ed to make a plea for a greater focus on education: "It shouldn't take luck for people to be able to access the education they need to help overcome life's obstacles. Investment in education is a no-brainer in promoting personal and career growth and supporting our economic recovery."

<snip>

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2013/09/17/mark-wahlberg-earns-high-school-diploma/2824899/

[bananas]

1. Mark Wahlberg Earns High School Diploma At 42; Actor Helps HS Teens Overcome Poverty And Crime

http://www.medicaldaily.com/mark-wahlberg-earns-high-school-diploma-42-actor-helps-hs-teens-overcome-poverty-and-crime-through

Mark Wahlberg Earns High School Diploma At 42; Actor Helps HS Teens Overcome Poverty And Crime Through Education Programs

By Lizette Borreli | Sep 17, 2013 01:34 PM EDT

Hollywood actor Mark Wahlberg has earned his high school diploma at age 42. The two-time Academy Award nominee, worth over $200 million, had a long and difficult journey to attain his high school General Education Development (GED) diploma. Wahlberg dropped out of school in the ninth grade after he was charged with attempted murder, Yahoo! Finance reports.

"It's also a huge sense of relief. I wondered, 'Why didn't I do it when I was there?' It's so much harder at 41 going back and trying to do all these difficult tasks," Wahlberg told People magazine on Monday at an event in in Irvine, Calif., for the Taco Bell Foundation for Teens, during which he presented scholarships to select Taco Bell employees.

During his teen years, Wahlberg was part of a Boston gang that led him to a life of crime with street fighting, stealing cars, drug dealing, and even an attempted murder charge. At the age of 16, the actor attacked two Vietnamese men without any provocation, attacking the first man with a stick and punching the second, according to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Superior Court official record.

<snip>

The married actor and father of four has partnered up with organizations like the Taco Bell Foundation for Teens to make a difference in the lives of high school teens who need help overcoming life’s obstacles. The Taco Bell Graduate for Más program provides tools, support, and a community that can steer these kids in the right direction.

<snip>

[NYC_SKP]

2. Glad to read this. He sets a stellar example for young people, and older people! (nt)

[bananas]

5. Yes - I didn't know this about his background. nt

[bananas]

3. Mark Wahlberg graduates high school

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-207_162-57603237/mark-wahlberg-graduates-high-school/

Mark Wahlberg graduates high school

By LAUREN MORASKI / CBS NEWS/ September 17, 2013, 9:01 AM

<snip>

"They have this new program in Massachusetts where you can actually take the courses online. So I'm starting this month in New Orleans," he said, noting that he would do coursework while on the set. And that's exactly what he did. On Monday, Wahlberg said he studied while filming "2 Guns," even trying to keep it a secret from co-star Denzel Washington.

"Denzel was always asking me what I was doing but I didn't want to share that information with him," he told People. "Nobody knew, because I felt like I don't like to count my chickens before they hatch, so I didn't want to say that I was doing it until I actually finished it. What if I said I'm doing this and I didn't finish it?"

<snip>

[nikto]

4. But----WHAT ARE HIS TEST SCORES?

If Wahlberg's test scores are not high, then his teachers and his school are total failures,
and that school will have to be privatized.

In Amurka', it is the only way.

Privatizing Public Schools is God's Plan.

You know----God (or should I say, "The Gods"---Gates, Broad, Walmart, Duncan, Deasy, Rhee, etc etc).

And as we all know,
Gods know best.

Until we know his test scores, we will not know if Wahlberg was properly edumacated and
properly indoctrinated in Godly Corporate Philosophy.

Why?

Because it's all about the kidz.


Below: LAUSD Superintendent John Deasy with young student

[longship]

16. Gee, he looks a lot like Martin Sheen.

I suspect that is Sheen from the Dead Zone.

[nikto]

20. Well, alright, it IS Martin Sheen, but...

Symbolically, it is how LAUSD Superintendent Deasy (and his ilk)
actually think of kids.

Everytime they are asked a hard question about converting Public Schools to for-profit Charter Schools,
they just say, "It's all about the kids". Tough to question that one, publically.

Same hypocrisy as with Sheen's character in "Dead Zone".

The School DEFORMERS are just hiding their crimes and real intent, behind children, like a defensive shield.

[Ash_F]

6. Good for him. /nt

[Skittles]

7. awesome

[rocktivity]

8. Chris Rock did the same thing.

Last edited Thu Jul 2, 2015, 11:18 PM - Edit history (2)

And legend has it that when Van Halen's bassist Michael Anthony dropped out of school to devote himself to the band, his folks disowned him. He returned home a year and a half later with a record deal, the first new truck his father would ever own, and a copy of his GED!

P.S. Jon Bon Jovi said in an interview that he didn't attend his senior prom because he had a gig, and it got misinterpreted as his not finishing high school. He did, in fact, graduate.


rocktivity

[underpants]

9. Good for him. I think that Billy Joel's high school accepted "Piano Man" as his senior paper

there could have been some other songs too.

[awoke_in_2003]

10. Wow, I like Wahlberg a little more now. nt

[onehandle]

11. I finished high school.

Best seven years of my life.

[eggplant]

12. Heh, not me (or my wife). We're both proud dropouts.

We each dropped out after 10th grade and went to Simon's Rock instead. Check them out at www.simons-rock.edu.

I ended up with my BS at 18, and she got her BA, then her MSW, and is finishing her PhD in Social Work at the moment. But high school? Nope. If you are planning on doing college, then the last two years of high school are a complete waste of time.

[tclambert]

13. Now he's gotta prep for the SAT.

[nolabear]

14. Congratulations! Nice to read about a simple, positive achievement.

[Owl]

15. Good for him! I love stories like this.

[Tanuki]

17. Kudos to Mark!

Gretchen Wilson, the Grammy-winning country singer, is another celebrity who obtained her GED 20 years after dropping out. Here she speaks about this achievement:

&feature=player_detailpage

I admire both of them for their determination and their encouragement of others who may have felt it was "too late" to earn a diploma.

[swilton]

18. I loved him in 'The Departed'

[dflprincess]

19. He was talking about this on Letterman quite a while ago

he also did it because he wanted to set an example for his own kids.

And, he said he took his kids along when he had some tattoos removed - in the hopes they'd think twice before they get any.