Case Studies

Some students struggle with a number of issues that have nothing, usually, to do with their academic ability. They may feel that their peers don’t value them, they may have interests that are unusual, or they may just feel like they don’t fit in. This can lead a student to become disengaged, truant or even wanting to drop out of school altogether.

This was Eric. When we met him in 2005, he was an unmotivated sophomore in high school who was ready to drop out. He hated everything about school and was not doing well academically. He wouldn’t make eye contact with us and his demeanor suggested that he was basically disgusted with life.

Part of this had to do with having ADD but the bigger part had to do with how he felt in the school he was attending. He felt like he didn’t belong there – that he was an outsider. He felt it difficult to learn in an environment, that was, in his own words, an “awkward, stressful and unorganized high school setting.”

After talking with him and learning more about who he is and what his interests are, we were able to determine that, while he really did want to finish school, he didn’t want to stay in the high school environment.

We discussed some options and the need for Eric to take responsibility for creating a different future for himself.  This included a change in the way he studied, participated in class, his relationship with teachers, and overall involvement in the school.  Eric’s goal was to improve academically so that he could take advantage of other learning opportunities. His primary goal was acceptance into a local community college’s enrichment program in the fall of 2007 and as a student in Ocean Classroom for the spring 2008 semester.

So how to get there?

Together, we came up with a plan of action. Acceptance at the community college was not going to be easy because his grade point average was not high enough. He was going to have to apply himself during his junior year in high school, learn how to set goals and bring up his grades. We also worked with him to develop good time management and study skills.

In the meantime, we also knew it was important for Eric to pursue his real love: music. Eric is a gifted musician, talented guitarist and song writer who loves all aspects of the music business. We encouraged him to seek out ways in which he could be more engaged in his music. He got himself some gigs playing in local coffee shops, restaurants and bars, and he learned more about music production, actually producing his own CDs. In this way, he was able to focus on something that made his junior year in high school more bearable. We also worked with him to get him into a summer program for college credit at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, which he completed in the summer of 2007.

Although he wasn’t accepted into the community college’s official enrichment program, he was accepted as a special day student. Bringing his grades up helped enormously, but it was his willingness to advocate for himself by writing letters and making calls to the appropriate officials at the community college that made the difference.

He had a very successful semester at the community college, receiving As and Bs, and was also accepted into Ocean Classroom’s program for the spring 2008 semester.