Ohio woman told she never graduated high school 16 years after ceremony

Two months ago, a woman in Ohio learned that she never actually graduated high school when she received her diploma from Scott High School in 2007, WTVG reported.

Victoria Tatum said the hard copy of her diploma got lost in a natural disaster, however, she has a blurry picture of it from the graduation ceremony. When she tried to apply for some college classes recently, she was told it was not valid.

“It’s like a slap in the face for my mom and dad because she worked hard to get her kids to graduate. That was her one dying wish before she left this earth,” Tatum said. “I’ve been trying to do this for three years and I finally got my answer in June saying like “Hey, yeah, you never graduated from our school,”” Tatum added.

The Toledo Public Schools system told Tatum that it has no records showing that she was part of any graduation ceremony. It said it however has records showing she was half a credit short from graduation.

That will not be useful for any college Tatum intends to attend, she said. The Toledo Public Schools system advised she get her GED but Tatum said that isn’t fair as she continues to hope for a solution to the problem.

“It’s not my fault,” said Tatum. “I did nothing but come to school, learn, get my diploma, and go off to college to better myself. I want to continue to better myself, but they’re holding me back, and I don’t appreciate that. I don’t and I need them to fix that.”