Community Foundation Has Eyes on Grad Rates
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Daniel [email protected]
It was the monthly meeting of the Kosciusko County Educational Development program.
The program was started by local business people and educators. The goal is to raise graduation rates.
Graduation coaches from Tippecanoe Valley, Warsaw and Wawasee were on hand.
After discussing grants and funding, the nuts and bolts talk began.
For these graduation coaches, the task of identifying then guiding at-risk kids from dropping out to earning a high school diploma is one fraught with challenges.
Whether it’s parents who don’t care or are unavailable, kids who don’t see the value in a high school education, learning disabilities, health issues and more.
Alissa Trippiedi is the graduation coach at Tippecanoe Valley.
This year, Valley had 73 percent of juniors and seniors pass.
“Some of the obstacles we’ve overcome range from a bad home life to one student who was almost suicidal,” said Trippiedi.
But that student who was suffering suicidal thoughts turned out to be one of the success stories.
“It was such a neat thing to see her walk across the stage and get her diploma,” said Trippiedi. “She gave me a big bouquet of flowers. I was floored. I thought, ‘It’s your graduation. You should be getting the flowers.’”
Another student dropped out, but Trippiedi wouldn’t let her go that easy. So she went to her house and talked with her.
“If you wouldn’t have come to my door step, I’d never be here,” said the student after agreeing to go back into the program.
She’s now on track to graduate this summer.
Not only do graduation programs at the county schools work on getting kids to graduate, they are also there to just listen or offer advice.
At Wawasee, 18 students received consults this past year. Those numbers aren’t included in the work that is done through the graduation program.
At Wawasee, kids reached 92 percent of credit success and the attendance rate was 93 percent.
Attendance is a huge issue graduation coaches deal with.
“I had a freshman who just disappeared in the last week of school,” said Wawasee graduation coach Jeff Phillips. “After a dozen calls, I finally got to talk to his mom. She just said he decided he was done for the year.”
That instance can encapsulate the work and frustration that comes with being involved in such a program.
As George Brennan pointed out later, that sort of effort and the sort of success the program has achieved, illustrates the sort of community this is.
Wawasee will have four graduation coaches next year while Phillips will serve as the director of the program.
The goal of all the programs is to move to lower grades and not just concentrate on seniors.
“We have to identify these kids and communicate to them why a high school diploma is valuable to them,” said Phillips. “How do you see school being utilized for you? No matter what your future plans are.”
Wawasee has already identified 37 freshmen it will work with next year.
At Warsaw, teacher Steve Henn talked about providing hope to the kids in their program.
He said now a lot of the kids have plans after high school and even some of the kids are going to college. One is going into the military.
Warsaw is making the move to work with sophomores next year.
Henn echoed Phillips statements.
“If you get to them earlier, you are better off,” said Henn.
“And you can coach the parents too,” said Phillips.
While the graduation coaches continue to have plans to reach more kids, and Kosciusko County Educational Development took a big step by adding Sariah Morgan as the program coordinator, the issue of funding still remains.
Ot Schroeder, board president of Kosciusko County Educational Development, encouraged the community to get involved.
Whether it’s monetarily, through advocacy or mentoring, the community has many avenues to get involved.
“We’re so lucky to live in a community like this,” said Brennan. “I think this program shows that.”
For more information on the graduation program, visit www.thekced.com or follow Kosciusko County Educational Development on Facebook.
Follow staff writer Daniel Riordan on Twitter at @TUNews_Riordan
He can be reached at 574-267-3111, Ext. 246.[[In-content Ad]]
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It was the monthly meeting of the Kosciusko County Educational Development program.
The program was started by local business people and educators. The goal is to raise graduation rates.
Graduation coaches from Tippecanoe Valley, Warsaw and Wawasee were on hand.
After discussing grants and funding, the nuts and bolts talk began.
For these graduation coaches, the task of identifying then guiding at-risk kids from dropping out to earning a high school diploma is one fraught with challenges.
Whether it’s parents who don’t care or are unavailable, kids who don’t see the value in a high school education, learning disabilities, health issues and more.
Alissa Trippiedi is the graduation coach at Tippecanoe Valley.
This year, Valley had 73 percent of juniors and seniors pass.
“Some of the obstacles we’ve overcome range from a bad home life to one student who was almost suicidal,” said Trippiedi.
But that student who was suffering suicidal thoughts turned out to be one of the success stories.
“It was such a neat thing to see her walk across the stage and get her diploma,” said Trippiedi. “She gave me a big bouquet of flowers. I was floored. I thought, ‘It’s your graduation. You should be getting the flowers.’”
Another student dropped out, but Trippiedi wouldn’t let her go that easy. So she went to her house and talked with her.
“If you wouldn’t have come to my door step, I’d never be here,” said the student after agreeing to go back into the program.
She’s now on track to graduate this summer.
Not only do graduation programs at the county schools work on getting kids to graduate, they are also there to just listen or offer advice.
At Wawasee, 18 students received consults this past year. Those numbers aren’t included in the work that is done through the graduation program.
At Wawasee, kids reached 92 percent of credit success and the attendance rate was 93 percent.
Attendance is a huge issue graduation coaches deal with.
“I had a freshman who just disappeared in the last week of school,” said Wawasee graduation coach Jeff Phillips. “After a dozen calls, I finally got to talk to his mom. She just said he decided he was done for the year.”
That instance can encapsulate the work and frustration that comes with being involved in such a program.
As George Brennan pointed out later, that sort of effort and the sort of success the program has achieved, illustrates the sort of community this is.
Wawasee will have four graduation coaches next year while Phillips will serve as the director of the program.
The goal of all the programs is to move to lower grades and not just concentrate on seniors.
“We have to identify these kids and communicate to them why a high school diploma is valuable to them,” said Phillips. “How do you see school being utilized for you? No matter what your future plans are.”
Wawasee has already identified 37 freshmen it will work with next year.
At Warsaw, teacher Steve Henn talked about providing hope to the kids in their program.
He said now a lot of the kids have plans after high school and even some of the kids are going to college. One is going into the military.
Warsaw is making the move to work with sophomores next year.
Henn echoed Phillips statements.
“If you get to them earlier, you are better off,” said Henn.
“And you can coach the parents too,” said Phillips.
While the graduation coaches continue to have plans to reach more kids, and Kosciusko County Educational Development took a big step by adding Sariah Morgan as the program coordinator, the issue of funding still remains.
Ot Schroeder, board president of Kosciusko County Educational Development, encouraged the community to get involved.
Whether it’s monetarily, through advocacy or mentoring, the community has many avenues to get involved.
“We’re so lucky to live in a community like this,” said Brennan. “I think this program shows that.”
For more information on the graduation program, visit www.thekced.com or follow Kosciusko County Educational Development on Facebook.
Follow staff writer Daniel Riordan on Twitter at @TUNews_Riordan
He can be reached at 574-267-3111, Ext. 246.[[In-content Ad]]
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