Mother of 4 graduates from high school in Behchoko, N.W.T.

Gladys Tlokka first left school at age 17. More than 15 years later, when she was considering going back to finish, she and her husband talked about it.

"He encouraged me to go back to school," she says.

Next she had to clear it with her son, Cole Ekendia, who's now in Grade 11.

"He was like, 'I'm not gonna talk to you in school,'" she says. "After a while he started talking to me in school."

In the end, he started calling her "Mom" in the hallway. The two took gym class together.

Today, Tlokka is one of 31 students to walk the stage at the graduation ceremony in the community of about 1,900.

With four children and a husband with a fly-in, fly-out job at a mine, she admits the experience of high school was somewhat different this time around. If kids were sick, she had to skip class.

And occasionally, she found herself parenting in the classroom.

"'You guys should just finish your work,'" she recalls telling classmates. 

With her new diploma, Tlokka hopes to find work so her husband is no longer the sole earner.

Her advice to other adults who haven't finished Grade 12?

"It's never too late."