By Luke Ray/For CU-CitizenAccess.org — The Urbana Adult Education Center (UAEC) offers free high school, GED, Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA), and other courses to adults ages 16 or older.

When I learned what UAEC offered, I was intrigued by the unique opportunity students have to obtain an Urbana High School Diploma. They earn it through the Accelerated Performance Learning (APL) Program, allowing students to work at their own pace.

Watch the video below to find out what Jackie Mills plans on doing with her diploma.

This project is the culmination of University of Illinois students’ work during spring 2014 as part of the multimedia reporting course taught by Professor Charles “Stretch” Ledford. The students were instructed to select a topic of interest and use audio and video to share that story. The resulting multimedia projects give an in-depth look at small segments with the Champaign-Urbana community.