Stay in School

From the BCCT.

Dropouts tell at-risk students to stay in school
By: JOAN HELLYER
Bucks County Courier Times

Daniel Harris feels he had a life-changing moment Monday as he listened to area residents talk about the challenges they’ve faced since they dropped out of school.

“I need to step up my game. No more bad grades,” said Daniel, 15, a student at the Benjamin Franklin Freshman Academy, after listening to the speakers with the “Stay in School for Success!” campaign.

“I don’t want to be like that when I grow up,” said Katie Morrisey, 15, a freshman at the academy.

They were among more than two dozen Bristol Township freshmen at risk academically who were invited to listen to the speakers, school representatives said.

Each speaker left school for a different reason: John Simmons did not return to Bristol Township’s Harry S Truman High School in 2007 after he was arrested. Michon Darnell left Truman after putting a job before her studies. Lindsey Sierra dropped out of Pennsbury High School a year ago while battling a drug addition and going through rehab.

Each regrets dropping out. They now are pursuing their high school GED through the Pennsylvania CareerLink Bucks County Youth Center in the Bucks County Office Center off Veterans Highway in Bristol Township.

All are planning to go to college or secure a steady well-paying job once they receive their GED.

A high school diploma or the equivalency will improve a person’s earning ability by about $3 per hour compared with someone who has dropped out, according to CareerLink statistics. Plus, it likely will reduce the amount of time a person will be unemployed during their working years, campaign organizers said.

The speakers also includ- ed Oklahoma native Ken Perry who is working through CareerLink to secure gainful employment. All four said: Stay in school.

“I know it sounds corny, but staying in school will probably be the best decision you’ll ever make,” Lindsey, 17, said.

The workforce investment boards of Bucks, Chester and Delaware counties and Regional Career Education Partnership partners are sponsoring the Stay in School effort.

The project also includes an online resource guide to services for dropouts in the greater Philadelphia area. There will be a “Re-Engaging Disconnected Youth Symposium” at Bucks County Technical High School on Friday. The brain-storming session is for community and faith-based organizations serving students at risk of not finishing school.

The initiative is necessary, even in Bucks County, where the dropout rate is generally less than 1 percent, because those who have dropped out are seeking resources in greater numbers, organizers said.

Dropouts cost the state on average $32,000 per person during their lifetime in welfare, food stamps, Medicare and other costs, officials said.

The biggest setback is a lack of well-paying jobs. Plus, dropouts miss out on the many social memories from the high school years, said Lindsey, who would have gone to her senior prom and graduated from Pennsbury this year had she stayed in school. “It’s really upsetting not being there,” she said.