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MIDDLETOWN -- Pregnant and fed up with school, Denise Steele dropped out of Middletown High School at the age of 14. Now, 22 years and three babies later, this certified nurse's aide has earned her high school diploma.

It took Steele 18 years to secure the 12 high school credits she needed to graduate from the adult education program. Her urge to get that diploma never wavered, but "life has a way of throwing you curves," she said.

"I never wanted to quit, but I had to take care of my kids," Steele said. "At times, that meant stepping back from school and taking those overtime shifts at work when they were offered. But I always knew I'd be back."

On Wednesday, after completing her last three math requirements, Steele was the first of about 100 students in the Middletown Adult Education program to receive high school diplomas.

When she walked across the Middletown High School stage, her throng of friends and family, including her three children, snapped her photo and yelled out "You go girl!" and "Go Momma!"

The packed auditorium erupted when the graduates, clad in royal blue, began to march across the stage to get their degrees. The audience oohed and ahhed at the small children who accompanied their graduating parents.

The ceremony also honored students who completed the Even Start family literacy program and the English as a Second Language program. Students who gained U.S. citizenship were also recognized.

"Students want to be a part of Middletown Adult Education," said one of the class speakers, Leah Bernacki, who got her high school equivalency diploma Wednesday. "Everyone's situation is different and we all took a different path to get here."

When describing her path, Steele laughs and calls it "the scenic route."

She went to school from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., came back for evening class from 5:30 to 8 p.m., cooked dinner for her family and helped with school work and then pulled a night shift at the nursing home from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.

On those days, sleep was optional. To top it all off, during the last year of her schooling, Steele had to cope with her oldest daughter Takesha going with her Army Reserve unit to Iraq, and raising her son's child.

"That's what family does," Steele said. "They've been there for me.

One of the few people who did not make it to Steele's graduation was her dad, who died when she was 21. It was his heart that broke when she dropped out. It was him she thought of as smiled for the cameras.

That is why Steele's diploma has her maiden name, the one her dad gave her, written in fancy letters. Steele wanted to honor the man who had preached the importance of a diploma to a wandering daughter.

"He'd be proud of me, I just know it," Steele said. "His baby finally did it."

By Penelope Overton, Courant Staff Writer