ABSTRACT
Project Graduation is tucked at the end of a short hallway on the third floor. This program is a last-ditch effort for many of its 60 students, who have opted to be here. It is a place where their lack of credits, failures in schooling and even past criminal behaviors are put to the side and where four dedicated teachers and two administrators have reached out to students to create personal bonds and flexible scheduling to help them recover credit and get on a fast track to graduating. Beyond the door labeled “Project Graduation,” one enters a large common area, which is surrounded by three classrooms and an administrative office. Against the back walls are bookshelves with signs detailing genres—Adventure, Science Fiction, Autobiography. In the corner of the room by the books are two armchairs and an old wooden table with hook legs.
