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Saturday, February 8, 2025

Second chances

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Shanee Michael was a student at Fountain Square Academy. When she became pregnant during her sophomore year, she dropped out.

“I thought school was boring. Sometimes it felt like a waste of my time,” she said.

Michael, 18, eventually realized the importance of education, but didn’t want a GED. Instead she enrolled in the new Christel House Drop Out Recovery School (DORS) and is seeking a Core 40 high school diploma.

She is still anticipating school to be uninteresting, but is willing to do what it takes to make a better life for her son.

“After I dropped out, life was really hard,” Michael said. “For the first year, I didn’t have a job, I didn’t have any money – my mom was taking care of me. I finally got a break, but it’s still hard. I have to go back to school.”

Emily Masengale, principal of Christel House DORS, said students like Michael drop out for numerous reasons. She added, in Indianapolis, nearly 6,000 students drop out of school and students living on Indianapolis’ Southeastside comprise a large portion of that number. Despite reasons for dropping out, the school’s main goals are to give people wanting to go back to school a chance for more opportunities in life.

Christel House DORS is one of many schools in the Christel House International school network. There is the K-11th Christel House Academy located on Indianapolis’ Southside and other academies and learning centers in countries such as India, Mexico, South Africa, Venezuela and Serbia. Christel House DORS is the newest member and will open in August.

They are currently accepting applications from people who have dropped out of high school and are age 18 and older. The application deadline is March 31. Since there are only 175 openings, a lottery will be held if necessary on April 9. Following the initial roster, the school will have a rolling enrollment. There are plans to eventually grow the school to 300 students.

“We are a charter school targeting the adult learning population. This school is in addition to other programs in Indianapolis, like Goodwill’s Excel Center. The need for schools like this is so great and we’re another option,” said Masengale.

Students who work during the day have the opportunity to take night classes, which are located in the high school wing of Christel House Academy. Students who are able to go to classes during the day will do so at Ivy Tech Community College’s main campus.

“We want students to be able to keep up with life’s responsibilities. That’s why we created day and night classes,” said Masengale.

Since each student will potentially have differing academic levels, curriculum will entail both traditional classes with a teacher and online classes done on a school-issued computer tablet. Students can achieve their goal of a Core 40 high school diploma at their own pace.

Partnering with Ivy Tech will also allow students the opportunity to obtain dual credit towards their high school diploma and a college certificate or degree from the community college.

Once Michael gets her diploma, she plans on taking pharmacy technician classes at Ivy Tech, then wants to attend a traditional college to become a pharmacist.

Christel House DORS is essentially a high school for adults of all ages, but students can expect much more than a diploma.

Masengale and other administrators know that re-entering the classroom can be daunting for some, especially older adults, so they’ve added resource specialists in addition to traditional teaching staff. Specialists are tasked with having close relationships with students and will offer guidance when students need academic and/or social support. This relationship begins this spring with a one-on-one visit and an eight-week orientation to understand the staff, academic expectations and school culture.

Students are also asked to introduce an important person in their life to their specialist creating a complete “Student Success Team.”

Once orientation is complete and class officially starts, students can expect special Friday and Saturday enrichment days, remediation classes such literacy and ESL (English as second language), workshops and community resources based on students’ needs among other support aids.

Students will also be able to volunteer their time to help others who are in need.

“They don’t have to be on the receiving end of services all the time. They all have gifts and strengths so we really want them to recognize and utilize those,” said Masengale.

Classes and additional opportunities are free and are made possible by community partnerships, grant dollars and federal funds.

Michael is ready to start going back to school so that she can begin building a better life for herself and her family.

“Even though I didn’t do it right the first time, I’m going back. This is something I can show my son later on, that I did this for him,” said Michael.

For more information, call (317) 783-4690 or visit www.chdors.org.

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