Trail-blazing teens graduate from unique school
Entire graduating class the first in their family to attend college or university
For Kyle Hewitt, it is hope. For Georgia McCabe, the idea her life could be so much more than what she thought she was destined for.
This is the inspiration the two teens take away from their years at a groundbreaking Ontario high school where the goal is to get at-risk students to be the first in their families to attend college or university.
The bold experiment has paid off, with all 45 members of the first-ever graduating class accepted to postsecondary studies — attending Brock, Laurier, Waterloo, Ottawa, Carleton or Western universities, or Niagara or Fanshawe colleges.
“Hope — that is the one word to describe it,” said Hewitt, 18, when asked about the DSBN Academy in St. Catharines, which he has attended since it opened in 2011. “It gave me the inspiration to do something with my life, rather than just coast.
“It’s kind of empowering that I can choose to do whatever I want in my life, and I’m not stuck in a dead-end job, just trying to pay the bills. I can succeed and I can go somewhere. I can do what I choose.”
The academy takes children from anywhere in the District School Board of Niagara region, starting in Grade 6, and focuses on its mission from Day One. Though the plan at first was to cater to low-income students only, that proved controversial so the focus became “first generation” students blazing post-secondary paths in their families.
From morning breakfasts to mentoring to mandatory after-school clubs and enrichment activities, these students consider school a home where the adults take the time to personally greet them every morning, talk to them one-on-one on a regular basis and engage them in their studies, all while cultivating high expectations for the future.
“It was pretty emotional for a lot of people,” said Niagara Director of Education Warren Hoshizaki of the graduation ceremony held Wednesday night.
“I would suspect that 90 per cent of those kids — some may not have graduated, but 90 per cent of those kids were not going on to post-secondary.”
Research from the U.S. showed that nurturing kids from Grade 6, as they start to think about careers and goals, “was the best time to get them,” especially in an area that has had high unemployment and poverty rates. The program doesn’t use a lot of extra funding — apart from the busing, which is provided no matter where students move to in the region, as well as salaries for a few extra staff members.
“There are so many stories out of this first group — kids that were abandoned by their parents, kids that were homeless. Kids that were challenged in their lives,” he said. “It’s made such a change.”
Lisa Nazar, principal of the high school students at the academy, is thrilled at what they have accomplished.
The school opened with just 124 students, and this fall will have 450 elementary and secondary students.
“We are unrelenting,” said Nazar, who was the first in her family to go to post-secondary school.
“Teachers are mindful this is not just a credit, we are responsible for the bigger picture.”
Students are not “streamed” into academic or applied courses when they hit Grade 9 or 10, as most Ontario schools do. Instead, the higherlevel academic is the only offering and, in Grade 11, college and university-level classes.
“We have always said, we’ll know we are successful when they graduate from college or university. We still have to wait, we still have to stay connected,” said Nazar, adding students have all been told they can come back, or call and connect whenever they need.