Setting their goals high: Scenic Hill Elementary students set their sights on college

It’s never too early to get kids thinking about graduation on going on to college and at Scenic Hill Elementary School, they’re taking that to heart.

Throughout the school teachers and students are focusing on the future to make sure that every student understands the importance of graduating from school.

In K K Young’s second-grade class, for instance, a borrowed cap and gown from Kent-Meridian High School gave each student a glimpse of his or her possible future of each of them in a mortarboard.

“It’s setting the expectation that they can do it,” Young said. “We want to give them a positive message.”

It’s all part of the Graduate with Options program, a school-wide effort to encourage students to think early and often about the skills they need to graduate and what that can mean for their future.

“It’s important to graduate because when you graduate you get lots of options and options are choices you can make,” said Areli Torres, 7, who hopes to be the first member of her family to go to college.

It is students like Torres, whose families may not have many college graduates, for whom Graduate with Options was created.

“It’s exactly because some of them didn’t have an idea about (graduation),” Young said.

“We want to give them a vision,” said Principal Wally Clausen. “For a lot of our kids (college) is an abstract concept.”

Clausen said his school has a lot of poverty and encouraging students to go on to higher education can help break a cycle of generational poverty. The program makes sure the entire school is focused on the same topic and goals.

In Young’s classroom, every student completed a small book that includes with a thought cloud listing things that need to be done in order to graduate, like writing skills and staying focused and being a good reader.

Every student also stated what they wanted to be when they grew up and got a picture of themselves in a cap and gown.

The students, who will be part of the Class of 2019, all said they wanted to be sure to go on to college to achieve whatever job they hoped to get — from scientists to athletes to doctors and lawyers.

All of the students also spoke of the importance of college in getting better jobs and making sure they could graduate to keep all of their options open.

“You get smarter and smarter if you pass all the schools,” said Alessia Robbins, 7, a future scientist.

Meanwhile, in Mark Conway’s sixth-grade class across the hall (Class of 2015), the students also were discussing college and keeping their options open.

“The more options we have when we graduate high school, the better chance we have of doing what we want when we get older,” Conway said.

As part of their project, each student in the class writes to a college of their choice for more information. Last year, the students received letters, invites to tour their schools and even a box of T-shirts from North Carolina State University.

The idea of having options resonated with the students.

“Even if you don’t become what you wanted to be, you still always have other options,” said Mamie Love, 11.

Lantz Smith, 11, said he was starting to plan now.

“Start now and you’ll have a better job,” he said.

“You can have a plan so once you get to college you won’t have a hard time trying to figure out what to do,” agreed Elijah Bannie, 12.

“Instead of having a dumb job, you’ll be able to be someone,” said Miles Dubois, 11.

Clausen said the entire school is energized about the program and when students visualize their future, there’s a difference in how they view school.

“When they get excited about something they get engaged and that allows them to do well,” he said.