Adam Stewart finished first in his class. So the 18-year-old North Attleboro man will deliver this year's valedictorian speech for Emmanuel Christian Academy and lead its graduates on stage for the school's inaugural commencement ceremony.
"There won't be a parade of people going up," Stewart says.
In fact, it will just be Stewart. He's a graduating class of one, a common occurence for home schoolers, who generally receive little public recognition.
At this time of year, it's the conventional high school students wearing caps and gowns and marching en masse to "Pomp and Circumstance" who get our attention. They're the ones with grand graduation ceremonies -- which many home schoolers happily do without.
"It's like frosting on a cake," says Holly Flint, 18, of Woonsocket. "But I don't like frosting. There you go."
Homeschoolers, of which there were 852 last year in Rhode Island, according to the Department of Education, meet state academic requirements and complete 180 days of instruction a year. They do everything their conventionally schooled counterparts do except, in most instances, get a diploma.
"The idea of a diploma means you must be smart," says Michael Ryan, 18, of Burriville. "I don't have a diploma, but I know I'm smart."
Historically, most home schoolers haven't participated in large-scale graduation ceremonies. After all, these are independent people.
"We concentrate a lot on individuality," Ryan says.
If Ryan is going to celebrate the completion of his secondary school education, he says, it won't be with lots of strangers, but rather with a few close friends.
"They're mostly nerds," he says. "But they're my kind of people."
When that moment comes, Ryan says, it will be casual not formal, and he'll wear conventional clothing.
"Caps and gowns look dorky if you ask me," he says.
We asked a few home schoolers their opinions about traditional graduations. Not surprisingly, we got a few different responses -- from indifference to imitation.
"It's nice to have the children recognized for completing their course of study," says Susan Jacobsen, who helped coordinate the annual April meeting of the Massachusetts Homeschool Organization of Parent Educators (MassHOPE).
More than 3,000 people -- home school students and their parents -- gathered at the Worcester Centrum for the MassHOPE convention, and for some recognition.
"We don't call it a graduation," Jacobsen says.
There were no diplomas bestowed, and no caps and gowns worn.
"We have polled people to see if they would like to wear caps and gowns," says Debra Esolen of the Rhode Island Guild of Home Teachers (RIGHT). "So far, no one has."
On June 7, RIGHT, the oldest and largest home schooling association in Rhode Island, had its state-wide "promotion night" at the Coventry Recreation Center. Parents gave certificates of completion to their children, those who chose to attend.
Flint didn't, although her mother is a chapter coordinator for RIGHT.
"I don't need to prove I've graduated," she says. "I don't need a certificate or an outward sign."
Flint says graduations are fine for others, but she finds little benefit from them.
"I'm not one for motivational speakers. If someone wants to motivate me, they can talk to me one on one. Personal things affect me more than general things. People who know me can advise me."
Flint isn't having a public or a private "graduation" ceremony, just a graduation party.
Secular in the Ocean State (SOS), a home school organization founded two years ago and now with 40 families, isn't having a graduation ceremony either.
"Accomplishments are every day and don't have to be summed up in one day," says Stacey Grant of Smithfield, a SOS founding member. "It's life long."
In Rhode Island, just as in Massachusetts, there's no one state-wide association for all home schoolers. Instead, there are a few associations. Some are secular; some are religious. And home schoolers don't necessarily belong to any of them.
Once again, these are independent people. That's why they home school.
To do that, the state requires parents keep attendance records for their home-schooled children and that local school districts, which approve home-school curriculums, monitor the students' academic progress, according to the Department of Education.
When the home schooling is completed, neither Massachusetts or Rhode Island grants the students high school diplomas. Instead, it leaves that decision up to the discretion of the local school districts, which home schoolers say few if any districts grant.
In Woonsocket, home schoolers can receive diplomas -- but only if they complete their senior year in the public school.
No diplomas are awarded to home schoolers in North Attleboro. So Kristin Stewart, Adam's mother, has arranged for her son to receive a leather-bound certificate of completion from the Homeschool Legal Defense Association, and for him to have his own graduation.
"I consider it a rite of passage," Kristin Stewart says. "He has to learn to do public speaking to enter the adult world. Right up to the end this [home schooling] is a learning experience."
Emmanuel Christian Academy is the Stewarts' home. And with Adam Stewart's graduation, its enrollment will decline by one-third. (Adam has a younger brother and sister.)
Adam Stewart's graduation will be June 22 at the Uxbridge (Mass.) Church of the Nazarene. About 100 people are expected to attend. The church's youth pastor will speak, followed by Kristin Stewart, who will award her son his certificate. Then Adam will deliver a speech while wearing a cap and gown.
"Our home school never had colors," he says. "I like blue so I'll be wearing a blue cap and gown and a gold tassle."
In his speech, Adam says he'll thank those who have contributed to his education and outline his plans for the future. Most immediately, that involves attending Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy, Mass., where he intends to study pharmacology.
"A diploma is just a piece of paper," Adam Stewart says. "It's the knowledge you pick up that will do you good."
