As a graduation coach at a Title-1 high school in Palm Beach County, I served a cohort of more than 100 students who are at risk of not graduating. I worked individually with each student providing mentoring and tutoring with the ultimate goal of getting the student on track to graduate. More often than not, I found that a student is struggling in school because of what is going on in their lives, not because their classes are too difficult. Therefore, to me, the most important aspect of my position was to serve as a support system for my students.
On Thanksgiving Day in 2021, an 11th-grade student of mine tragically lost her father. Given that she was one of my students, she was already not on track to graduate. The loss of her father put her at an even greater risk. When she returned to school, I immediately met with her. Naturally, she was not doing well. She had no motivation to do her school work and she was losing interest in finishing the school year. I realized that in order to get my point across to her, I would have to become vulnerable. I decided to tell her about my personal experiences with losing my father during my final semester of college. More specifically, I told her what my father said to me the day he was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer: “stay on track.” I have lived by these words ever since that day. Living by this saying led me to graduate at the top of my class in college and to get accepted into many of the highest-ranked law schools in the country. These words changed my life, and I had the honor to use them to change my student’s life as well. My student was simultaneously heartbroken and captivated as she listened to my story and to the advice I gave her. I gave her time to process the conversation, and we sat in silence while she cried. After a few minutes, she got up from her chair and gave me a hug, telling me through her tears that this conversation changed her life and she will never forget what I said.
I keep a file on each of my students. During my first meeting with this student at the beginning of the school year, I wrote, verbatim, that she was “very bubbly and positive!!” She lost this spirit after the passing of her father, but over the time I have worked with her, I saw this “bubbly and positive” energy beginning to redevelop. Although she still has challenging milestones to reach in her senior year, I believe that I have planted the seed that she needs to support her academic success. It takes time to grieve, but I am confident that this student will graduate from high school. I genuinely believe that the support I provided is one of the main contributors to her future graduation.
– Alana Horwitz, Graduation Coach
