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“I felt like everything was over for me,” Dobbs said, adding that the state science test was her major hurdle. “I learned that it’s OK to fall down, but you gotta be able to get back up.”
Erin Dooley, DPS’ chief of secondary schools, said the two most common threats to students’ graduation are earning the right classroom credits and passing the Ohio State Tests. Students have to earn 20 classroom credits, including certain minimums in math, English, science and other subjects. For the past two years, students who don’t pass state tests have had other diploma pathways, such as a capstone project and work/service hours.
“I think we did a much better job (in 2018-19) of having counselors interact with potential graduates from the first week of school, so everybody was very clear about what they had to do to cross the finish line,” Dooley said. “And those kids who were close but didn’t quite make it (for spring graduation), they also had a clear path about what they had to do in summer to finish up.”
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Shataria Blackstone said she had fallen behind in part because she switched schools multiple times. She received her Thurgood Marshall High School diploma Tuesday after working hard to finish.
“It was hard, it was stressful, but I did it,” Blackstone said. As she looked at the diploma in her hand, she said, “It feels good. I want to cry.”
Dooley said it can be devastating to students when they don’t graduate on time with their friends, but she credited Tuesday’s graduates for their hard work and dedication. She also spotlighted “caring teachers and counselors” for motivating the students and helping them find the right strategies to succeed.
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Dooley also said early intervention during the transition from middle school to high school is key, so students don’t fall behind early in high school.
“This number of summer graduates (26) was at least double the total from last year, so we feel really good that we have some supports in place that are helping kids make it,” Dooley said. “A lot of kids would otherwise choose not to finish.”
Dajae Moncrief said half a credit kept her from graduating on time, but she received her Dunbar diploma Tuesday. She encouraged younger students to keep pushing when they hit obstacles and have belief that they’ll make it.
“Small things can really matter, they can change your bigger picture,” she said. “Now I feel excited. I feel like nobody can stop me from doing what I need to do.”
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