Dane County Hmong High School Graduation Ceremony

press release: The Hmong Education Council and the Wisconsin Hmong Association Inc with the Hmong community is hosting a Dane County wide Hmong High School Graduation Ceremony Saturday, July 7, at Madison College Rm D1630 (1701 Wright St) from 4 pm until 7 pm.

This is the premier event to recognize Hmong students for their accomplishment of graduating from high school. Additionally, the Hmong Education Council Scholarship recipients will also be announced. Three Hmong graduates will each receive a $700 scholarship to use towards their higher education. The event will consist of welcome remarks from Hmong community leaders, cultural performances, keynote address by Dr. Nengher Vang, professor of history from UW-Whitewater, and a community meal. Each high school student will receive a certificate to commemorate their achievement.

In the Madison school district there are 895 Hmong student in which 81% are not proficient in reading, 68% not proficient in math, 87% are ELL, and 69% receive free and reduce lunch. Peng Her, co-chair of the Hmong Education Council said, “You only graduate from high school once, so we want to let these students know we are happy for them and are here to support them. The Hmong community values education and recognize our students face many challenges in school. However, despite the obstacles our students are graduating. By hosting this event, we as a community are acknowledging their hard work, courage, and self-determination in meeting the requirment to graduate from high school.”

The Hmong community invites the Dane County community to join us as we celebrate these young people’s success. Chao Vang, chair of the scholarship committee states, “Education is the key to opening doors for all of us. We want our students to have the same opportunity as anyone but because we are refugees and higher education can be to costly for some students we wanted to assist them by giving students a scholarship to help offset the high cost of going to college. Because how much money your parents make should not be the deciding factor on if you go to college or not.”

The event is free and open to the public.