Photos: Five new Anchorage mothers receive high school diplomas

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Five students were honored for graduating Crossroads School at a ceremony on Friday, May 8, 2015. Crossroads is an alternative high school of the Anchorage School District for pregnant women or new mothers. From left are Dashay Alexander, Jacynne Augafa, Rebecka Eakin, Linzee Victoriano and Jill Vue.

Before Rebecka Eakin moved the tassel on her graduation cap Friday, she praised Crossroads, an alternative high school in Anchorage for pregnant and parenting students. Without the school, the 17-year-old mother said, she would have likely dropped out -- never receiving a high school diploma.

"I am graduating and that is probably the best thing I've ever done in my life," Eakin said, standing on stage in the Bartlett High School auditorium. She thanked the school's staff, her family and her boyfriend. But first she thanked her daughter, Maddison, "for always just keeping me going when I felt like I couldn't do it."

Eakin graduated from Crossroads that night alongside four of her peers -- Dashay, Jacynne, Linzee and Jill. Before the ceremony, they all sat backstage. Some fixed their hair or put on eyeshadow as they awaited the beginning of the night that would mark the end of their high school careers.

Read more: At tiny graduation, five new Anchorage mothers get high school diplomas