Jazmin Betancourt, Lupe Lopez, Cecilia Santillan and Estefana Medina started their student lives as strangers.

But on Monday, they were close friends, having shared the rigors of a 30-week course to learn or perfect their English-speaking and -writing skills.

And after a lunchtime ceremony at a McDonald’s restaurant, they were among 10 graduates of “English Under the Arches,” a program that teaches the fast-food giant’s employees the English they need to communicate effectively and confidently with customers and staff.

The four women are managers at different McDonald’s in Clark County, among the 17 restaurants owned by Val and Matt Hadwin.

The students finished their last class before Monday’s ceremony at 2814 N.E. Andresen Road. Then, with the strains of “Pomp and Circumstance” playing over loudspeakers, the students paraded through the restaurant doors and marched down the seating area aisles to the front, where the Hadwins presented each with a certificate of completion. Vancouver Mayor Anne McEnerny-Ogle also greeted them in the reception line.