58-year-old shocked to learn he already has high school diploma after thinking he never graduated

CINCINNATI (WCPO) – A Cincinnati man is marking a milestone he thought passed him by nearly 40 years ago.

Shawn Hughes walked in a graduation ceremony.

“If I die tomorrow, I can say I did accomplish something,” Hughes said.

Hughes has been taking classes for his GED, so imagine his shock when he learned that he already has his diploma.

Hughes is in recovery from alcohol use disorder at Prospect House, a men’s long-term spiritual recovery center in the Price Hill neighborhood

“I wasn’t doing anything but destroying myself and looking at death,” Hughes said.

Paul Quertermous is the executive director of Prospect House.

“We have the treatment program. We have three-quarter housing. We have alumni housing, so a new man fresh off the street can come in and sit down and have dinner with a guy who has 10 years of sobriety,” Quertermous described.

Hughes, 58, decided he was going to change something he once thought he didn’t accomplish.

“Like three weeks into taking the classes, they called me to the office and told me, ‘Shawn, you already have your diploma.’ And I was like, ‘What?’” Hughes said.

For decades, Hughes, a member of the Woodward High School class of 1986, went through life thinking he didn’t graduate after being sent to summer school.

“I was absent from school those three days that they gave me, so I assumed I didn’t graduate,” Hughes said.

On Thursday, he finally walked across the stage after completing a Cincinnati Public Schools program that offers free day and evening classes for those looking to get their GED.

“When the alcohol went away, I still had that problem. The problem is still there, so I just wanted to take time out for myself and learn me. I needed to know who I really was,” Hughes said.

Now Hughes is one of the newest cooks at Prospect House.

“Shawn is at the point where he can see that he can build a life now, and that’s a wonderful thing to see,” Quertermous said.

Hughes’ next goal is to head to college to study robotics and continue growing a bond with his children.

“Be ambitious,” Hughes said.