- News
WXXI News
Special Coverage
Innovation Trail, Capitol Bureau, Understanding the Affordable Care Act
News Programs
Connections with Evan Dawson, Need to Know
Latest News
- TV
Schedules
Interactive Grid, Printable Listings, Kids TV Schedule
Watch Online
Channels
WXXI-TV 21, World, Create,
Kids 24/7, City 12Programs
Homework Hotline, Second Opinion, Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival,
Arts InFocus, Need to Know, All WXXI Productions, Other Programs A-Z - Radio
- Little Theatre
- Education
Information for
- Events
Upcoming Events
Other Events
Education
- Support WXXI
Support WXXI
Membership, Corporate Sponsorship, Planned Giving, Volunteer, Vehicle Donation
Pledge Now!
more... - From the President
State of the Re:Union with Al Letson: Dropouts to Graduates: The Story of the Care Center — An American Graduate Special
State of the Re:Union with Al Letson: Dropouts to Graduates: The Story of the Care Center — An American Graduate Special
Sun, 06/09/2013 - 9:00pm
Al Letson visits the Care Center, an alternative school just for pregnant and parenting teens who’ve dropped out of high school in Holyoke, Massachusetts. State of the Re:Union with Al Letson: Dropouts to Graduates: The Story of the Care Center — An American Graduate Special airs Sunday, June 9, 2013 at 9 p.m. on AM 1370/FM-HD 91.5-2.
Say you meet a teenager. She’s 16, and she’s already dropped out of school. Now, she’s pregnant, due in a few months. She’s on her own, as her boyfriend disappeared when news of the baby came out. She doesn’t have a job, and is hoping her mom won’t kick her out of the house. What would your expectations for her be? What do you think she’ll achieve? If you’re in Holyoke, Massachusetts, the answer to those questions might be very different from the predictable one of hopelessness and dim futures. That’s because Holyoke is home to the Care Center, an alternative school just for pregnant and parenting teens who’ve dropped out of high school. It’s not your typical GED program, either: it’s modeled on a prep school, so students are learning fencing, rowing, yoga and poetry along with basic math and reading. Their personal histories are fraught with homelessness, domestic violence, gangs, food insecurity—the entire student body is living at or below 50 % of the poverty level, and 2/3rds of them dropped out of high school by the 10th grade. Despite all that, between 70 and 85 percent of Care Center students go on to college. In this American Graduate special, State of the Re:Union goes deep inside this school—learning its philosophy and the life stories of students and teachers—to explore what it takes to turn a teen mom’s life around.
Local support for the American Graduate Initiative and this broadcast is made possible by Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection, preparing students for graduation, college, and a career.
Audiences: