The Last Dropout
By: Kerri Cokeley
In an effort to help reduce America’s high school dropout rates, America’s Promise Alliance is supporting more than 100 state and local Dropout Prevention Summits across the country.
On September 25th I attended the first Indiana Dropout Prevention Leadership Summit. I participated in this meeting with a group of education professionals and concerned citizens from Clark County, a local workgroup convened by Landon Samuels of State Farm. There were hundreds of folks in attendance at this statewide conference, including some from Floyd and Harrison Counties as well.
The luncheon keynote speaker was Bill Milliken. Bill has been a tireless advocate for disenfranchised youth and one of the foremost pioneers in the movement to connect schools with community resources to help troubled students graduate and succeed in life. In 1977, he and others developed a model organization, now known as Communities In Schools.
The Communities In Schools model believes that each child needs and deserves the “5 Basics:”
1. A one-on-one relationship with a caring adult
2. A safe place to learn and grow
3. A healthy start and a healthy future
4. A marketable skill to use upon graduation
5. A chance to give back to peers and community
Each of these “5 Basics” makes so much sense to me as I think back to my childhood and what helped me get to where I am today. When thinking about how to help the students falling through the cracks of society today, it’s hard to keep from getting overwhelmed.
Something that Bill Milliken said as he was speaking resonated with me deeply, “America doesn’t have a youth problem. America has an adult problem.” I couldn’t agree more.
This leaves me with a question for you: What are we, the adults, going to do to help make sure the young ones in our life, and in our community, have the support they need to be successful?
P.S. The Evening News did a great job of capturing the essence of the statewide event (click here to see the article.)
