Graduates from SLCC’s largest prison education class look toward a brighter future

Salt Lake Community College Prison Education Program graduates celebrate during their commencement ceremony at the Utah State Correctional Facility on May 13, 2024. (Courtesy/Salt Lake Community College)

The words “resilience” and “courage” were a constant in the speeches at Salt Lake Community College’s commencement ceremony on Monday morning, celebrating graduates as they completed their degrees under some of the most challenging environments — prison. 

This was the largest class since the prison education program’s inception in 2017 and for many of the more than 30 graduates, the certificates represented breaking past cycles and gave a glimpse of what could be the next chapter in their lives. In front of dozens of friends, family and teachers at the Utah State Correctional Facility, they shook the hands of the college trustees, received their diplomas and ceremoniously moved the tassels on their graduation cap from left to right.

“(This is a) chance not to rewrite our story, but to accept it and write another ending,” Roberta Sophia-Lloyd Zesinger, one of the graduates, said in a speech. 

She’s the first person in her family to get a higher education certificate and hopes this accomplishment will bring a transformative change to her life.

Lloyd Zesinger described growing up as a transgender girl and going through different complex environments, such as the Army, that, while challenging, taught her to persevere. Addressing her class in her cap and gown, she said she wished they were the rule and not the exception.

“Education helps us break barriers. It allows us to go back to society with loving arms and not with fear,” she said.

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For many of her peers the ceremony was the culmination of an education journey that started years, even decades before. Some fist bumped volunteers after picking up their certificates, others waved at their teary-eyed guests. 

Thirty-one members of the graduating class received associate degrees — most of them in general studies. Three earned certificates of completion for general education and one received two associate degrees.

Classes at the Salt Lake Community College Prison Education Program had nearly 300 enrollees in the past year in this corrections facility, according to a school fact sheet. That represents about 10% of the prison’s population. 

Students in the program can pursue nine associate degrees: anthropology, business, criminal justice, English, general studies, history, humanities, paralegal studies, and philosophy and religious studies. 

Incarcerated students are allowed to use federal Pell grants for SLCC programs, as the U.S. Department of Education designated the college as a Second Chance Pell Institution, which allows confined or incarcerated individuals to access postsecondary education. 

Students are able to transfer credits to all public colleges and universities in the state.

Becky Golly, another graduate, interviewed three friends who majored in criminal justice, anthropology and science to inform her speech. They all spoke about how they overcame challenges and how their educational path gave them purpose and pride.

Golly herself had a tough path getting to the stage. She was a single mother trying to provide for her three children when her addictions took over and she was arrested. 

“I believed my life was over,” she said. But, starting school in 2019 helped her change her views on the world. “This also positively affects my children’s lives. I always saw myself as a failure and a bad mom. Today I’m proud of myself for becoming the woman I’ve always wanted to be.”

She hopes to use her degree to further education opportunities for incarcerated people, and use her voice to advocate for resources for families of incarcerated people.

Utah House Rep. Melissa Ballard, R-North Salt Lake — who has run bills to facilitate postsecondary education in correctional facilities, taking action such as requiring schools to consider an inmate a state resident for tuition purposes and assigning student success advisers — also spoke during the ceremony about how the graduates’ accomplishment would give them a chance to make a difference.

“I’m looking forward to where you will continue to go,” Ballard said.

The event was also SLCC president Deneece Huftalin’s last commencement. She’s set to retire and will be succeeded by Gregory F. Peterson this summer.

Huftalin read highlights of the speech that keynote speaker Erin Jackson gave at the Maverik Center for the school’s commencement ceremony in early March. The gold medal speedskater explained how stumbling during the Olympic trials helped her refocus and move forward. She also spoke about how a military training reality show helped her realize, “I’m tougher than I thought.”

“I heard those lessons through your stories. You’ve already learned those things,” Huftalin added. “I’m so proud of all of you.”

As she leaves her role, Huftalin believes there’s still work to be done to help incarcerated students succeed, maybe by offering correctional housing for those pursuing degrees to provide an environment more conducive to learning.

“Education is fundamental,” she said. “It makes stronger people and stronger citizens.” 

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