Kennewick School District reaches out to high school dropouts
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KENNEWICK - For many, returning to school after dropping out is an uphill battle.
"I pretty much gave up - because I felt like I wasn't smart enough,” said Tommie Calderon.
Tommie first dropped out of school in the ninth grade because of her dying mom. Now, she's a medical assistant. Caring for her two kids motivated her to go back and finish her education.
"I was 25 years old working at a daycare, and decided I didn’t want to be 40 years old and still be working there,” added Tommie.
The Kennewick School District wants more of those success stories. 140 teens have dropped out of Kennewick schools in the past couple of years. To improve the numbers, KSD organized a door-to-door outreach for students who have a year left to graduate.
"Our mission today was to get these kids back in school. So our motto is - We Want You Back,” said Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Education Ron Williamson.
For students that didn't open up the door, volunteers and school personnel left flyers for CBC High School Academy.
"My hope is that we could even find half of those kids - because they're a fairly mobile population,” said Williamson.
The goal? Encourage students to enroll in the academy program. And after finishing the high school degree, to begin Running Start to get that upper education.
"Each student will be individualized to determine what exactly do they need? And we'll target those things at CBC to give them those classes,” Williamson emphasized.
Now it's the students turn to respond and choose whether to return.
"I pretty much gave up - because I felt like I wasn't smart enough,” said Tommie Calderon.
Tommie first dropped out of school in the ninth grade because of her dying mom. Now, she's a medical assistant. Caring for her two kids motivated her to go back and finish her education.
"I was 25 years old working at a daycare, and decided I didn’t want to be 40 years old and still be working there,” added Tommie.
The Kennewick School District wants more of those success stories. 140 teens have dropped out of Kennewick schools in the past couple of years. To improve the numbers, KSD organized a door-to-door outreach for students who have a year left to graduate.
"Our mission today was to get these kids back in school. So our motto is - We Want You Back,” said Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Education Ron Williamson.
For students that didn't open up the door, volunteers and school personnel left flyers for CBC High School Academy.
"My hope is that we could even find half of those kids - because they're a fairly mobile population,” said Williamson.
The goal? Encourage students to enroll in the academy program. And after finishing the high school degree, to begin Running Start to get that upper education.
"Each student will be individualized to determine what exactly do they need? And we'll target those things at CBC to give them those classes,” Williamson emphasized.
Now it's the students turn to respond and choose whether to return.
