BY IRIS B. HOLTON
Sentinel City Editor
On Thursday, December 9th, the Academy of Excellence will host its first graduation exercises. Seven of the fifteen students who began the class in March will graduate.
The ceremony will take place at the C. Blythe Andrews, Jr., Public Library, (formerly College Hill Library, corner of E. Dr. M. L. King, Jr., Blvd. and N. 26th Street), at 9:30 a.m. The graduates are Ms. Lydia Burns, Ms. Amber Hicks, Ms. Ashaunte Singletary, Kendredge McKinnon, and Edwin Gay.
Ms. Hicks and Ms. Burns have applied and been accepted at Hillsborough Community College. Others have expressed an interest in learning a trade.
The students, who range in age from 17 to 29, came to the Academy with varied backgrounds, including referrals from the Juvenile Justice System, a teenage parent, and some formerly incarcerated.
Ms. Angelica Norton, founder of the Academy of Excellence, said launching the school was her way of giving back to the community. “I grew up in College Hill as the second of seven children, and I was a teenage mom.”
However, Ms. Norton came to realize the importance of having an education. She enrolled in an online high school [private]program entitled, Stepping Stones, a nationally accredited online high school diploma program.
Tre Lawson, and Ms. Ushanda Pauling, Project Facilitator, gave the students instructions and educational guidance. Ron Anderson, of Project Now, purchased their cap and gowns, Toni Cruz, CPA, Dayle Greene, Lynnette Stallworth, and April Griffin, school board member were instrumental in launching the program. The Hope Learning Center served as its first location until it moved to the library.
“The Academy works with teens and adults who have been forced out of traditional school models or who are in familial situations that required them to leave school to take on other roles,” she said.
The next academy will begin on January 24th with students classes being held Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Orientation will be held on January 18th.
Ms. Norton said the enrollment capacity is 15 students and enrollment is on a first come, first serve basis for the free program. She plans to have two classes per year.
Ms. Norton said, “The Academy of Excellence will help take our young people out of the shadows of uncertainty and into a place of clarity and hope.”[/private]
