Vivian Ketchum is counting down the days until June 30. The 58-year-old woman is scheduled to receive her high school diploma at a graduation ceremony at the University of Winnipeg next month.

It is a moment she has been waiting for decades, she said: "I look forward to crossing that stage."

Ketchum joined the Winnipeg Adult Education Centre last fall, the assessment placed her in grade 11, and after less than a year, she is scheduled to graduate.

Happy, her graduation will be bittersweet because of her son Tyler who was inspired by his mother's passion for returning to school. But he died in 2011 at the age of 24 after being diagnosed with a brain tumor.

Tyler left a message for his mother saying, "Mom, I don't want you to be sad for too long. I'll be okay, Mom, you have to keep going."

And that's what she was doing when she went to apply for school admission. She said: "Returning to the classroom was scary at first," her statement came like that because Ketchum's history with school was unpleasant.

Ketchum, who is of Ojibwe descent, grew up in Kenora, Ontario. She suffered from racism and found school challenging.

She left school in grade nine to help support her family. She had Tyler when she was twenty-one years old, and the family moved to Winnipeg in the late 1990s.

She recalls that it was difficult to find stable and meaningful work without a high school diploma.

Ketchum, who was a single mother, found tough jobs in warehouses under difficult conditions and sales jobs that left her very little money to take home at the end of the day.

Ketchum's return to school was a surprising experience. When she was a child, she hated math but this time she excelled.

"(Adult education) classes are smaller and the teachers are patient with you."

Ketchum said she has already received some job offers and aspires to work as a librarian in the future.

Her certificate gives her important confidence to excel in the next chapter of her life and to continue making her son proud of her.

Ketchum said, "All my life I've heard words directly or indirectly, that I am a dumb Indian, but now I can hold my head up."