Inmate Earns Diploma at County Jail

Tuesday, July 24th marked an important day for the diploma completion program through Project Encore at the Butler County Jail. On this day, Timothy Olivas of Wellington, Kansas, graduated from the program. Timothy completed the credits required by El Dorado Public Schools to earn his high school diploma. 

Project Encore is in its fourth year at the jail. It is a diploma completion program supported by El Dorado public schools and sponsored by South Central Kansas Education Service Center. SKCESC has eighteen high school diploma completion centers located throughout the state of Kansas. 

Many exciting things have been happening since the program opened at the jail. There are now sixteen computers installed in the computer lab to meet the needs of inmates wanting to be involved with Project Encore. So far, eight inmates before Mr. Olivas have met the requirements to earn their diplomas from El Dorado Public schools, bringing the total to nine.

At the graduation ceremony, several people gathered to congratulate and offer words of encouragement and praise. On hand were Butler County Sheriff Craig Murphy, Sue Givens, Superintendent of El Dorado schools, Norm Wilks, Financial Director USD 490, Tere Howard, Project Encore Instructor, and Captain Whittaker of the Butler County Jail. 

Mr. Olivas expressed his gratitude for the support and opportunity he received in order to achieve his goal. He thanked everyone for coming and said, “I want to enroll in college, especially in some business and finance classes.”

Tere Howard, the instructor for the program at the jail, says, “Timothy is a very intelligent young man with great potential. Even though he has made some serious mistakes, he does not need to let these define his future. I hope that this accomplishment will help Timothy take whatever steps are necessary for him to become the person he can be proud of.”

Project Encore allows students who did not graduate with their high school class a chance to go back and complete their high school diploma requirements. Students pick up where they left off and finish out their high school graduation requirements. The program is able to offer all of the core and elective classes a student may need to obtain a high school diploma. 

Project Encore has two other community learning centers outside of the jail. One is located in El Dorado and the other is located in Andover.