May and June were very busy months celebrating various graduations–not just high school graduations, but college one’s, too. And we launched our new high school in Baton Rouge with 28 students (pictured above) starting college classes June 3. They will start 9th grade in August. Yes, you read that right. We started our students in real college classes at Baton Rouge Community College this week. And they are doing great!
In Gary, we celebrated 107 graduates from our three schools–21st Century Charter School and Gary Middle College East and West. We had 18 of our 21st Century Charter High School students graduate from Ivy Tech Community College before graduating from our high school with nine of our students earning full Associate Degrees and another nine earning career certifications (a full year of college) while in our high school. According to the Indiana Higher Education Commission, these students are in the top 5% of the state in terms of earning 30 or more college credits while in high school. And 81% of our Gary Middle College students also earned college and career certifications.
We also got to watch many of our alums graduate from college including a 2012 graduate, Jamal Abdulrasheed (pictured below), who earned his law degree from Indiana University McKinny School of Law. Jamal is one of our first GEO students to enroll in our schools back in 2005.
In other news, we will be moving into the former Ivy Tech campus in Gary in July to accomodate the growing demand for our school model in NW Indiana. We will be breaking ground in Baton Rouge in August on our new $10 million high school building. And we should be getting more good news in July–more later.
Yes, it’s fun changing the world together!
Sincerely,
Kevin Teasley