Helping Students Get Their Diplomas

Sometimes kids need a little extra assistance to graduate from high school. Some local programs are doing great work in helping students overcome barriers to graduation. Check out the clips highlighting these incredible programs – we know you’ll be as excited as we are when you see their impact on students in the community!

The AT&T OSU Student Success Center focuses on four key elements to prevent dropout: academic skill building, career counseling, facilitation of student engagement, and mentoring. The goal is to help students feel part of the local community. The program seeks to target students before they make the decision to leave high school. The Success Center targets 30-35 students per year, and has seen a significant improvement in the attendance of students involved in the program. For more information, please contact Colette Dollarhide, dollarhide.1@osu.edu, or call 614.688.5938.

The Academic Acceleration Academy is a charter school that has partnered with several community organizations.  The goal is to help students overcome hurdles that prevent them from successfully completing high school. The AAA helps to prepare students for personal success in life and for positive contributions to their community, with programs such as work-based learning and a Graduation Reality and Dual Role Skills program. In its 5 years of operation, AAA has recovered and graduated 422 youth.  For more information, please visit www.academic-acceleration.com or call 614.298.4742. 

Project Mentor, a collaboration between Columbus City Schools and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Ohio, is a school-based mentoring program that is helping students graduate and empowering them for a lifetime of success. Volunteers from the community mentor a child once a week during a designated program time at a nearby school. Focus is placed on helping students improve academics and develop a sense of their future. On a scale of 1-5, students involved in the program have valued their relationship with their mentor at a 4.5.  For more information, please call 614.839.KIDS (5437) or visit ProjectMentorColumbus.org.