The pandemic set her back in school, but with help, she persevered
WESLEY CHAPEL, Florida — Kayla Cruz sparkled through elementary and middle school.
“I was always on the honor roll and made good grades,” she recalled. “And when I got into high school, freshman year was pretty easy for me.”
At the end of her sophomore year at Wiregrass Ranch High, COVID-19 took hold. And it set Cruz back, big time.
Trying to take classes online didn’t suit her learning style at all. When she tried to return to in-person schooling, quarantines kept her out for weeks.
Unmotivated, she ignored most of her work, choosing instead to run errands, go shopping and hang out with friends who did the same. “We were just dragging each other down,” Cruz said.
She failed multiple classes in 10th and 11th grades, and thought a lot about giving up. But something kept nagging at her to stick with school. When senior year rolled around, she found herself significantly behind in credits and gradepoint average. She had failed the required state language arts test three times.
“I was already so far behind, I didn’t feel I could ever catch up,” she said.
This path through high school is not unusual, Pasco County School Board member Colleen Beaudoin reminded residents at a recent meeting. She urged people to cheer every graduate who crosses the stage for a diploma.
“Every kid has a story,” Beaudoin said. “You might think, ‘This kid has it easy.’ You might never know what they went through. All of these kids have a story.”
Cruz’s teachers recommended she participate in Save Our Seniors, known as SOS, an individualized in-person credit recovery program that enrolled about 440 Pasco students this past fall. Other school districts have similar initiatives aimed at helping struggling seniors make up missed courses so they can catch up.
With her mom’s support, Cruz agreed to join SOS. After one day, she had her doubts. Sitting in the same classroom all day with the same kids and teacher was not appealing, she said.
Cruz didn’t walk away, though, and she soon saw the benefits. What was supposed to be one semester turned into two. “I realized that leaving that program for me would be the dumbest thing I could do,” Cruz said.
By the end of spring, she had made up all her credits and boosted her GPA. She also took the ACT reading test as an alternate language arts graduation requirement, besting the minimum passing score by 12 points.
She graduated with her classmates last week.
In her school district, 253 SOS students met their graduation requirements, and another 180 await test results.
Program supervisor Ramn Suarez said the goal was to get students who stood little chance of graduating without change to steer their way through high school and onto their next stops, whether college or career.
“The concept is, if you’re going to be late, be late. But don’t be absent,” Suarez said. “Sometimes things are difficult, but not impossible.”
Cruz said she found the work to be easier than regular classes. But she didn’t feel like she was receiving less of an education than others. Rather, she looked at her lessons as providing “the important stuff,” without including makework assignments.
She said she felt ready to pursue a career in real estate and attend the University of Central Florida, if she goes that direction.
She also had some advice for teens, her younger sister in particular, who have yet to finish high school.
• First, recognize that freshman year really matters. It’s harder to bring up your GPA than it is to drop it, Cruz said. So “do things right from the beginning and stay on top of it,” she said.
• Second, don’t fear asking for help. She didn’t seek assistance early, “which is why I struggled 10 times more than I should have.”
• Third, find someone to support you. Because getting help is one thing, Cruz said, but having someone encourage you is another. She thanked her mom and teacher, Jolynn Warner, for providing that safety net as she worked to get back on track.
They knew she would make it, Cruz said, and now she has.