The microphone fizzles at the front of the packed auditorium and silence echoes across the room.
“How many will be the first in their family to attend college?” The announcer waits. Students’ hands shoot up across the rows.
Community officials, school administrators and students came together at Sunnyside High School Nov. 13 to discuss why local dropout rates are so high and what can be done to bring them down.
The meeting was specifically organized to get student input on the problem.
“I mean, the kids are really honest,” said June Webb-Vignery, the program coordinator at the Metropolitan Education Commission, a local partner that helped plan the summit. “When they talk, the adults should listen. They really know what’s going on.”
The event was a partnership with a nationwide effort called America’s Promise, started by former Secretary of State Colin Powell, to improve education throughout the United States.
“Obviously, dropout rates are a very important issue,” said Vicki Balentine, superintendent of the Amphitheater School District. “What we know in this day and age is that for those that don’t graduate high school, it’s a less financially sound life than it used to be, and so our push is to get them to graduate.”
She pointed out that Arizona ranks 43rd in the nation for high school graduation rates.
The discussion was threaded through what the alliance calls its “five promises,” which are caring adults, safe places, a healthy start, effective education and opportunities to help others.
Some students taked about the importance of having adults in their personal and school lives they trust enough to talk to before sliding toward dropping out.
Briana Mendez, a freshman at Sunnyside, said connecting with adults can often be difficult and offered some advice.
“I think students feel a lot less threatened ... when teachers and administrators, not so much get off their pedestal, but act, not like an adult, but like a friend,” she said. “Sometimes it’s good to have an adult there for you. Sometimes it’s good to just have somebody there to talk to.”
Jeff Conte, a sophomore at Ironwood Ridge High pointed out that high school students are often concerned with how other students and adults see them.
“So much about high school is how people think of you, what your impact in the crowd is.”
But that shouldn’t stop students from turning to adults when they need advice.
“It’s really hard to look at a teacher as a person. You do forget that they were in high school too and they probably had some of the same problems you did.”
Students also talked about forms of peer and community pressures they expereince which may push them away from school.
But Julio Chavez, a freshman at Sunnyside, pointed out that part of feeling safe and supported enough to succeed is up to the individual.
“Our safety is just created by ourselves,” Chavez said. “I mean we can have the safest campus or the safest community but it won’t really matter unless you, yourself, make it safe.”
Other students said they thought that some people are just “set up for failure,” which makes staying in school difficult.
Again, Chavez emphasized personal responsibility.
“People aren’t set up for failure. I’m sorry. You gotta face the facts and you gotta face life. It ain’t gonna be easy but if you have the right tools then you can get through life pretty easy.”
Conte agreed and said that it’s often up to individual students to make the right choices.
“So much about life are your choices. You choose to be in a safe place; you choose to do drugs; you choose to play basketball, you choose to drop out,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s really on all of us.”
Crystal Reedy, a guidance counselor at Safford Middle School, thought the frank discussion with students was useful.
“I think if students listened and if people listened then they will benefit from it, and it definitely will be a stepping stone,” she said.
“Because our state really needs to get going. Our country really needs to get going.”
