Twice a week Mike Domagala, a high school teacher at Round Mountain High School, drives 35 miles one-way to the Tonopah Conservation Camp, an all-male, minimum-security correctional facility run by the Nevada Department of Corrections.

There he holds a general education diploma (GED) class for the enrolled inmates, helping them to prepare for the eight-hour long, five-part test.

In addition, Domagala meets with inmates who are preparing to earn their high school diploma (who usually have already earned their GEDs) individually, assigning them class work he then takes home and grades.

"A lot of it's independent study," Domagala explained.

Other inmates will help tutor or mentor the other students as well. If the entire class needs help on a specific area, Domagala will lead them in a kind of open-ended lecture, but for the most part the students are taught in a tutoring format.

The classes take a bit of extra time and effort on Domagala's part (the classes are in addition to his high school class curriculum), but if the results are any indication, it's well worth it for the both the teacher and the students.

"If I can help one of these guys straighten out their lives and give them a shot then it's worth it," Domagala said.

So far, the teacher's helped a lot more than one person.

In fact, Nye County has the highest matriculation rate of the entire state's prison system, despite the adult education program having been in place for only about two years.

Due to the high turnover rate and continued growth, the program has a graduation twice an academic year, which lasts from July 1 to June 30.

Last November, six inmates earned their high school diplomas, and in May of this year another seven proudly called themselves graduates.

And of the 20 adult education program graduates ready to walk down the aisle so far for this academic year, 10 are inmates.

Twenty-three of the inmates already have their GEDs, including one inmate who earned a perfect score of 800 on the reading section.

The program continues to grow, with 139 inmates enrolled for this year.

"They jump right in," Domagala said when asked about response to the program.

Much of the program's success lies in the fact that as far as Nye County educators are concerned, education doesn't stop with a GED.

Susan Zink, adult education coordinator for Nye County, emphasized that once a student's reached that step, they strongly encourage going on to earn a diploma and begin preparing students to pass their proficiency tests.

But as far as Zink is concerned, that's not the end of the road, either.

Zink will passionately tell the story of how after explaining to the first graduating class of the facility that a counselor would come to explain financial aid so they could take correspondence college classes, she found herself looking at silent, amazed expressions.

"It's like a miracle happened," Zinc explained. "I'm just grateful I have the opportunity to do this."

And for Zink and Domagala, the difference education can make in an inmate's life is more than worth it.

One of the graduates from the first graduation class has since been released and moved his family to Tonopah so that he can continue to attend Great Basin Community College.

"When we hear feedback like that, and we hear how they're turning their life around, it's like a shot in the arm for a teacher," Zink said. "I'm just so proud of everyone, they work so hard."

Another inmate, who upon entering the detention center had not even finished grade school, has since gone on to earn both his GED and his diploma.

"He's living proof that if you apply yourself and you want it bad enough you can achieve it," Domagala said of the inmate.

But nothing beats graduation day, according to Domagala.

The inmates get to go to their ceremony, decked out in the traditional cap and gown.

"You're thinking these big, bad convicts, but on graduation day they act just like high school seniors," the teacher said. "They're sitting there excited and grinning ear to ear."