On Thursday, Gerald “Mike” Fothergill will walk across the graduation stage at 77 years old.
Fothergill attended Hartford Public High School in the 1960s and was set to graduate in 1968, but an expulsion took that opportunity away from him. His expulsion came in the aftermath of the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Fothergill and his classmates walked out of school.
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WATCH HERE“I was not the leader,” he said to NBC Connecticut in a 2024 interview. “I was not one of the first to leave, in fact I left out of the back door.”
He has since been fighting to get his diploma while also dedicating his life to serving his community.
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SIGN UP “The value of a community is in the people that work in it,” said Fothergill. “I’m going to keep working it for the years that I have left.”
In recognition of his over 50 years of service, Hartford Public High School is awarding him an honorary diploma.
“It feels beautiful, because it shows that acknowledgement of our public school system,” he said. “I’m grateful to Hartford High for giving me this honor.”
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He will walk out in blue in front of his family and the class of 2025, but he says the fight for his actual high school diploma is not over.
“This is an honorary diploma,” he said. “I’m still fighting for my regular diploma, so that I could, my aspirations were to take on sociology courses in some of the smaller colleges.”
NBC Connecticut reached out to Hartford Public Schools to see what Fothergill would need to do to get his high school diploma.
The school system said Fothergill would need to fulfill the state's requirements for a diploma. It added that Fothergill has the option to complete Adult Education or take the General Education Development test.
