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Date: 8/14/2015
WEST SPRINGFIELD – A select group of West Springfield High School students recently completed the Graduation Success program.
The week-long program offers about 35 students a chance to work on literacy, math, physical education and team building, according to West Springfield Alternative High School Director Judi Ferri.
“It’s designed to encourage teamwork and a lot of different components – self-esteem, social emotional,” she said.
The students read “The Maze Runner,” a science-fiction novel about a post-apocalyptic society and created a variety of projects relating themes of the book to their work. Projects included a survival manual, a 3D maze and artwork.
“It was really awesome. It exceeded my expectations, really,” Ferri said. “It’s been really amazing to see the progress they’ve made with that.”
The students hosted a Graduation Success Summit on Aug. 11 to showcase their projects, resumes, business cards and photos from a field trip to the ropes course at Springfield College.
Graduation Success is a grant-funded program, and while in previous years the grant was enough to cover 10 days, a smaller grant forced it to be cut down to seven.
Despite that, Ferri said they jam-packed the days and were able to accomplish everything they set out to do. The students were even able to work with those in other grade-levels.
“My hope is that these students have integrated so much together. The teamwork piece is huge for me,” Ferri said. “The piece with literacy is amazing and we made it fun and exciting. The kids just couldn’t get enough of it, which is great.”
For Ferri, it was rewarding to watch them work together and grow as the seven days progressed.
“I loved doing this program. I was in awe over the way the kids supported each other. It’s real diversity,” she said. “They’re just a lot of fun to work with. They’re very accepting, willing and motivated to do the activities that were presented to them.”
For 10th grader Kayla Chretien, the best part of the week was getting a chance to learn how to make a proper resume.
“I made on before, but now I know how to make it better,” she said.
Cornel Malancea, who is going into his sophomore year, said the most important lesson he learned from the program was about the value of working together.
“You can do everything with teamwork,” he said with a smile.