Students in the Early College High School program succeed - 100 percent of grads are accepted into college - because they've made a commitment to do better.
Dwight Hall, vice principal of the Springfield Public Schools' Early College High School program, sits recently with some of the students. The program is located at Holyoke Community College. By AZELL CAVAAN
HOLYOKE - At Early College High School, the long lanky hallway is for much more than getting from one class to another.
It’s a place of community, where high-fives are enthusiastically exchanged between students and teachers; a source of inspiration, where a centerpiece features the names of colleges that recent graduates are now attending; and it’s a camaraderie of watchfulness, where faculty and staff can quickly assess the emotional state of a student on a particular day based solely on their countenance.
Located on the campus of Holyoke Community College, Early College High School is a small academic setting for high-school juniors and seniors who have had difficulty finding success in a more traditional Springfield Public Schools’ high school because of academic, social or emotional problems. The program is one of eight non-traditional programs the school district offers.
With no more than 70 students at any given time, four teachers and one guidance counselor, the Early College High School is a place where a student is as likely to be reminded to study for a math exam as they are to have “Happy Birthday” sung to them by the entire school.
Azell Cavaan is chief communications officer for the Springfield Public Schools; she can be reached by email to cavaana@sps. springfield.ma.us Assistant principal Dwight Hall says the school’s small numbers are a large part of its charm and its success. “The running joke around here is that a student can’t sneeze or belch without us knowing about it,” said Hall, who has been nicknamed “Papa Bear” by his students. “There’s no place to hide here, and I think that is a large part of what makes our students blossom.”
That, coupled with a few non-negotiables such as the school’s laser-like focus on attendance; its unapologetic commitment to “community meetings” where students are recognized for everything from working hard on a project to excelling in a particular academic subject; and its intolerance of, well, bad attitudes.
“Students may come to us with a chip on their shoulder, mad, bruised, immature and confrontational,” said Hall. “But they realize that they have support here and we teach them how to develop their own maturity and road map for success.”
The approach has worked for students like 18-year-old Lashayla Christopher, a senior. Although Christopher is now well on her way to earning her high-school diploma this June, that wasn’t always her goal. She didn’t like school, dealing with classmates was frustrating and she was unmotivated to improve her C-D average.
“So I dropped out. It was a simple decision,” she said. “But someone told me about Early College High School, and I kept it in the back of my mind.”
After looking into the program a bit, Christopher said she liked that the school is small and decided to give it a chance. She enrolled in August and hasn’t looked back. She’s already been accepted to Holyoke Community College for the coming fall, and she plans to pursue an education in psychology or nursing.
Hall says Christopher’s college aspiration and acceptance is commonplace among Early College High School students, where the track record for the past few years has been 100 percent college acceptance for graduating seniors.
“They’ve gone on to HCC, Springfield Technical Community College, Simmons College, even the Art Institute of Florida,” said Hall. “It’s as simple as these students making a commitment to do better.”