Liliana Navarro’s life has been a series of challenges, but she welcomes every one of them as she dedicates her high school diploma to her late mother.

Her mother’s dream to see her graduate high school was shattered several years ago when she quit with just a half a semester to go. She said it broke her mother’s heart when she left her parents and siblings in Los Angeles to move in with her boyfriend in Stockton in December 2006.

After her mother’s cancer recurred in 2009, she said, she returned to Los Angeles and took her son, Ramiro, with her. The family reunion was a joy to everyone, she said, as they spent every day together for her mother’s final two months of life.

She said she promised her mother she would return to school and nothing would stop her.

Halfway through her college program at Heald College in Stockton, pursuing a degree in medical office administration, she was informed that she still needed a high school diploma. She said she weighed her options and started classes at Tracy Adult School in March.

While balancing classes at both schools, Navarro still took care of her 3-year-old son every day. It was a hard road, but she refused to give up. That’s one of the reasons she was chosen to be this year’s student speaker at the Tracy Adult School graduation ceremony Thursday, May 19, at Tracy Community Center.

“I really, really wanted it, so nothing is impossible,” she said.

“I got in (Tracy Adult School) and they told me they had a graduation coming up,” she said. “I needed 20 credits, so I took my GED test, passed and only needed 15 credits.”

She said she would spend the first half of her day at Heald College and then drive to Tracy to attend classes at the adult school.

“I had to really, really try to do both things at one time,” she said. “It’s kind of hard, but I know nothing is impossible. I’m trying to become a better parent…, daughter. It was one of my goals, and thank God I’m going to accomplish it. I try to have a positive attitude. It’s hard. … I miss my mom.”