Cielle Pomerleau dropped out of high school at 15, left home and gave birth to a son at 16 and was soon working full time to pay her bills and provide care for her child.

On Monday, she stood proudly in the Portland Public Library auditorium to receive her General Education Diploma with the 2011 class of LearningWorks’ Youth Building Alternatives program.

“She is my mother’s curse, just like me … her own person,” said her father, Michael Pomerleau, himself a former dropout who sat front and center in the audience. “But she did it. I’m so proud of her for graduating.”

Applause, whistles and congratulatory shouts rumbled through the auditorium as the graduates adjusted their red tassels from right to left.

The 2011 class of 21 students was the largest to graduate from the program in its 15 years, said Executive Director Ethan Strimling.

“These were the folks that the system said ‘No way. You aren’t going to make it,’ ” he said in his address. “You’ve all had the personal fortitude to overcome, to pick yourself up again and again and again.”

Youth Building Alternatives is a nationally accredited alternative-education program for at-risk youths between the ages of 16 and 24 who have dropped out of high school for such reasons as probation, homelessness, young parenthood and lack of family support.

The program provides academic support, GED preparation, vocational education and job and life skills counseling, as well as a stipend.

“In a short time they accomplish so much,” said their teacher Patrick Lynch. “It’s four years of high school they’re squeezing into nine months.”

Cielle Pomerleau plans to attend Southern Maine Community College in September to become a social worker and work with at-risk youth. She won $1,500 in an essay contest sponsored by the Portland Chamber of Commerce that attracted 500 entries.

Other students had their own success stories.

Chelsey Graham, 17, dropped out at 16 due to a case of what her mom, Suzie, called “the social butterflies.” She stood on stage with her GED, a plan to attend college and a child due in August.

Lee Reh, a Burmese refugee, had graduated from high school in Thailand, and spoke only crude English when he started the program.

Mohammed Abdullahi plans to go to college for business.

“I had to prove something to somebody. I had to prove to the world and prove to myself, that I could graduate,” he said.

Of the 21 graduates, two had perfect scores of 800 on their GED, one was selected to attend the Young Leaders’ conference in Washington, D.C., four obtained employment and raises at Reny’s and one had come to the ceremony despite a 10-hour-a-day work schedule.

“They began this program with hesitation, uncertainty and a bit of skepticism and mistrust, but with hope,” said Soni Waterman, the program’s director.

The majority of funding for the program comes from Maine Department of Corrections and the U.S. Labor Department, which granted the program $1 million from the $75.8 million it distributed last year to 76 programs nationwide.

Strimling, the LearningWorks director, told the audience that graduates support both “pull yourself up by the boot straps” and “it takes a village” mentalities. “They wouldn’t be here without you,” he said to the audience of friends, families and mentors.

Staff Writer Colleen Stewart can be contacted at 791-6355 or at: cstewart@pressherald.com