This High School Is Not for Me

[avoiding high school]

Dear Nancy and Sid,

I can’t stand this high school so I’m always skipping school or class, failing subjects, getting into trouble, or getting bullied by other kids.  Don’t tell anyone I asked, but what else can I do?  -- Anthony

Dear Nancy and Sid,

How can we get this kid to go to school? Nothing seems to work. – We Care

Dear Nancy and Sid,

I can’t get up to go to school in the morning. Maybe I should go to night school or just quit. -- Charlie

Dear Nancy and Sid,

Unless these freshmen can overcome their poor attendance in middle school they’re probably going to have a tough time in high school. The truancy road leads to academic failure and dropping out. What kind of help can you provide?  -- Worried Parents and Teachers

Dear Anthony, Charlie, “We Care,” and “Worried Parents and Teachers”

There are plenty of reasons kids don’t feel they want to go to school. You need to find the program that’s going to work for you or the kids you’re worried about. Some of the programs you can consider include:

  YABC: Staten Island Young Adult Borough Center
 Olympus Academy
 GPS at Port Richmond High School 
Truancy prevention planning at the CDRC: Community Dispute Resolution Center

Read about each of these programs, then give our staff a call at 718-815-4557.

GPS students at Port Richmond H.S. help deliver turkeys for Thanksgiving

Not every family can afford a Thanksgiving with all the fixings, but this year the 110 members of New York Center for Interpersonal Development's Graduate, Prepare, Succeed (GPS) program at Port Richmond H.S. made sure each student had a delicious meal to share with their family.

Students packaged turkeys and all the fixings (which were were generously donated by North Shore Rotary Club, ShopRite of Staten Island and UFCW Local 1500) and assisted NYCID staff in making deliveries to the homes of their fellow classmates.

This experience was most rewarding and surprising to both staff and students as we witnessed and experienced the compassion, cohesion and community among GPS members. In addition, this opportunity enlightened and educated students about the need within their community.

Service learning promotes pride, esteem and worth to all individuals involved.  There are three key benefits to service learning:

1. It builds positive school community
2. It teaches students to respect themselves and others more, and 
3. It changes the misperceptions students may have for their peers. 

Family involvement is essential for our program to thrive and to affect change in our students’ lives. Adolescence is a pivotal time when identity and individuality is molded by influence. We believe this process enriched and positively influenced both the families who were thankful in receiving, and the students who were more than willing to give of themselves.

(Read more about the GPS and Advantage After-School programs at Port Richmond H.S. here.)