Tuesday, June 22, 2010

From Truant to Scholar: A Great Success Story!

I love hearing student success stories from my colleagues, and I just had to share this particular one with you! It shows how when Partnership with Children steps into a struggling child's life, we can help that young person transform and succeed. Enjoy!

Kevin: A Success Story
Disrupting classes and skipping school were daily occurrences for Kevin as a repeating seventh grade student in the Bronx. He was angry for having been held back and took his anger out on his teachers by behaving disrespectfully to them. He also got into serious physical fights outside of school. Kevin was on track to fail seventh grade for a second time when Partnership with Children entered into his life.

Partnership with Children's social worker started counseling Kevin and enabled him to reflect on how his decisions impacted his life. As part of this process Kevin acknowledged that his choice of friends played a critical role in his negative behavior and poor academic performance. As he started building trust for his social worker, he also revealed that he aspired to become a processional basketball player. Using this aspiration as a means to motivate Kevin, his social worker developed a plan that re-focused Kevin on academics and encouraged him to seek out more positive peers. As an incentive, Kevin was allowed to participate in an after-school sports program, contingent on his academic performance.

Kevin's grades and attendance improved dramatically as a result. Mid-way through the school year he was promoted to eighth grade, and he is now graduating with the rest of the eighth grade class in June. Adding to this great accomplishment is the wonderful news that Kevin has received scholarship offers from two private high schools to join their basketball teams and pursue his academic studies. Congratulations Kevin!