In its second year at Warsaw Community High School, the Graduation Coaches program may have space to take a few more students.
According to Assistant Principal Amanda Scroggs, a graduation coach during the 2010-11 school year, the graduation coaches for this school year are Liane Stewart, Steve Henn and David Bailey.
“Each coach has 15 students who were identified as being seniors who would benefit from having someone coaching them and building a positive relationship,” Scroggs said.
“Parental involvement is very important,” she said. “And the coaches reach out to include families in activities such as college night, and have created a web page with lots of information on the senior year.”
Another element of the program is community service. Students in the program at WCHS are now collecting Christmas cards to distribute on Veterans Day and send to the organization Hoosiers Helping Heroes. If anyone wants to donate cards, Scroggs said, they can drop them off at the main office.
“These students have had better attendance and better grades than in earlier years because they are part of this program,” Scroggs said. “They are also signing up for SAT and getting help in setting goals for post-graduation. If there are still openings available, parents can contact (class of 2012 Assistant Principal) Jennifer Shepherd to see if their child qualifies.”
The phone number at the high school is 574-371-5099.
The 2010-11 school year was the first year for the graduation coaches at Warsaw Community, Tippecanoe Valley and Wawasee high schools. Each school has two graduation coaches, except Warsaw which has three.
Concerned with area graduation rates hovering around the 75 to 82 percent rate, a group of community and school officials in 2009 formed a dropout prevention committee. Meeting regularly since July 2009, the committee developed two objectives they hoped would have an impact on local dropout rates.
At the high schools, the committee put graduation coaches in place. A mentoring program at the elementary and middle school levels encourages younger students to stay in school.
The committee adopted the name Kosciusko County Educational Development.
For more information on Kosciusko County Educational Development and its efforts to keep students in school, visit the website at www.thekced.com; e-mail kced@rocketmail.com; or call 574-549-8000.
