Grad coach finding success at Carpenter High School

Before the grad coach could start helping, Gerwing said staff had to determine what bars students from graduation.

“There are a thousand reasons kids don’t come to school but one of the main underlining reasons is they lack a foundation, that results in not having resiliency. It all goes back to not having that foundation whether it be trust or food or the home feeling,” he said.

The grad coach, Pat Gervais, has a classroom in the school where students can come in to receive help on their homework, catch up on classes, have a coffee, or just chat. She also roams the halls throughout the day talking with students in the hallways.

Had it not been for Gervais, Gerwing said roughly 20 students would have dropped out by now.

“Now I’m not saying they’re getting five credits, but they’re there, they’re engaged, they’re part of the school and they feel like it and it’s created a different mood so I really feel there’s some momentum building,” he added. “Kids who would have dropped out are getting one or two credits so I’d like to expand that in the second semester to them getting four credits.”

To Gervais, the most important thing contributing to the success of the program is a sense of belonging.

She added that’s when the real work can start.

“There were three things we knew right away kids needed to know about. They needed to have good attendance, good academics, particularly the 24 credits. A lot of students had no idea what a credit was [and] just assumed if you took a class even if you failed, you’d get a credit. They didn’t know you actually had to earn a credit,” she said.

When students are in the grad room, Gervais said she talks at length to the kids about what they want to do after graduating. It’s during these conversations Gervais realized a lot of students don’t have any idea what their aspirations are.

Throughout the first semester, Gervais worked with students to give them a better understanding of life after high school. To get started, Gervais gave each student a piece of paper where they wrote what they wanted to do on it.

Gervais has also worked with students on attitude. She explained when she says attitude, it’s not good or bad behavior; it’s creating dreams for the future.

Colton Swiderski is a news and sports reporter for meadowlakeNOW, paNOW and battlefordsNOW.com. He can be reached at cswiderski@jpbg.ca or tweet him @coltonswiderski.

by meadowlakeNOW

Grad coach finding success at Carpenter High School

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