Second chance for dropouts

• By CHANTE DIONNE WARREN
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Jun 17, 2008 - Page: 1E - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

• Print
• Email
• Save
• Twitter
• Social Media

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Facebook
• Reddit
• 

Student-made “survivor boards” tacked onto Nicole Scott’s cubicle walls at the Baton Rouge Career Solutions Center on Plank Road tell the stories of dropouts pursuing graduation.

Photographs, personal vignettes and newspaper and magazine clips illustrate the challenging lives of some of the dozens of high school dropouts whom Scott, a career specialist, has counseled and mentored, she said.

The board of Tynesha Smith, 21, is telling.

She has survived a lot: her mother’s battle to overcome drug use, being raised by her great-aunt, working, recuperating from leg injuries after a traffic accident, dropping out of high school, and raising and caring for her teenage, disabled aunt.

On Friday, Smith, along with 111 other student survivors got their high school diplomas during a ceremony at Healing Place Church on Highland Road.

Smith recalled her decision to drop out. “I thought it was the end of the world.”

“But I pushed myself to never give up,” she said. “This program lets you know that there is another chance and there are people really trying to help.”

The graduation ceremony culminated the first phase of their participation in the federal government Workforce Investment Act Program. East Baton Rogue Parish’s Baton Rouge Career Solutions Center Youth Program operates the programs at its three centers and six community center locations.

The next phase is job training.

Smith plans to attend Baton Rouge Community College and study to become a nurse. 

Baton Rouge Career and Job Center program director Isaiah Marshall, 35, has streamlined procedures and added creative approaches to improve upon the program.

“We want to be able to create real opportunities for youth out of school, ages 16 to 21, and create a pipeline for getting them out of the streets and into the workforce where they have not just a job, but a career,” Marshall said.

The program offers General Educational Development preparation and high school diploma preparation. Many of the eligible students have experienced a variety of barriers. There are school dropouts, homeless students, runaways, and some who have entered the foster care system. Pregnant and teen parents, disabled students and those who have committed crimes also make up the rolls.