Getting to Graduation
by Margaret Ross
mross@bctf.bc.ca
About 75 teachers attended a professional development evening with Mark Littlefield at Heritage Park Secondary School in Mission. The evening began with an outstanding meal prepared by the culinary arts students under the direction of Chef Peter. Many attendees were heard to say, “ I can’t resist another taste of that fabulous food,” as they returned to the buffet and dessert offerings several times.
Well fed, participants listened attentively to the compelling stories Mark told about vulnerable students and the challenges and possibilities they bring to our school system. Much of Mark’s work has focused on increasing graduation rates for children in care and he described the factors in students lives that put them at risk. It came as a shock to many of us to learn that 15% of our students have mental health issues and that 6.5% of that group struggles with anxiety. Mark told us that it does take a whole community to raise a child, and that we, as a community must rally ourselves to support our most vulnerable children.
Mark left us with hope and possibilities as he showed how the resiliency of vulnerable students could be dramatically improved by increasing their developmental assets. He talked about a framework of 40 Developmental Assets, which are positive experiences and personal qualities that young people need to grow up healthy. This framework can be found at www.searchinstitute.org .
The evening ended with Sam’s story. Sam is graduating from high school this year with a $16,000 scholarship for post secondary education. She described her rocky past, which included living on the street and talked about the influences that kept her in school. She reminded us again of how important schools and relationships are for students, and particularly for vulnerable students.
The evening felt like a roller coaster ride with many of us despairing at the challenges some of our students face and ended with a feeling of hope as we learned about what we, as an education community, can do to support our vulnerable children.
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