Students and staff members from the Performance Learning Center met and shared their stories with elected officials during a legislative luncheon on Friday.
It was the first time the annual event was held at the school’s current location, inside J. N. Fries Magnet School.
U.S. Rep. Larry Kissell, North Carolina Sen. Fletcher Hartsell, Concord Mayor Scott Padgett, Cabarrus County Schools Superintendent Barry Shepherd and Cabarrus County Board of Education’s Chairman Lynn Shue and Vice Chairman Blake Kiger attended the luncheon. Also present was Linda Harrill, president of Communities in Schools of North Carolina, which partners with Cabarrus County Schools to support the non-traditional high school.
Most of the program for the event focused on the stories of three current students and a graduate who had found that the traditional high school setting did not work for them, but they were successful at the Performance Learning Center (PLC).
Christian Maddox, who graduated from the school in 2010, spoke of how he used to dread going to his former high school. He called his decision to attend the PLC probably the greatest decision he has ever made.
“Without this place, I don’t think I would have a diploma right now or a job,” Maddox said.
Michael Lewis, who just completed all of his course credits and will graduate this year, said he also had dreaded going to his previous school and did not get his schoolwork done.
“When I came here, it was different,” Lewis said. “I could get up knowing it would be a good day at the PLC.”
He plans to serve with the U.S. Marines, beginning this summer.
“Without the PLC, I’d pretty much be nowhere,” Lewis said.
For Jake Hooks, who is also scheduled to graduate this year, the PLC has been a place he could grow and advance without “worrying about drama,” he said.
“The way we’re treated here as a big family makes this a great place,” Hooks said. “It makes me not want to graduate. … PLC has given something nowhere else has given me. It’s a family, not a school. It makes me want to be a better person.”
Destiny Hatley-Wang also spoke of the family-like atmosphere at the school. Unlike the other speakers, she said that she did not have a bad experience at her previous school, but she chose to attend the PLC because it was a better opportunity for her.
“This school has taught me time management in my life,” Hatley-Wang said. “I am proud to tell people where I go. … We’re all here because we want to be here.”
She told the room of elected officials, administrators from the school system, and representatives from Communities in Schools that it was good for them to be there and hear the students’ voices.
Principal Kevin Blackburn said he hoped those who attended walked away knowing that an investment in education is an investment in the future.
“The cost of dropouts is so much greater than the investment in education to prevent dropouts,” Blackburn said.
The school currently has 113 students enrolled, and 54 of them are expected to graduate this year, he said.
Kissell said he was happy to return to the school for the first time since 2009. He and others took a tour of the school’s new facility.
“As a former teacher, to see young people fulfilling their capabilities and be excited about their school setting … it’s exciting,” Kissell said. “The students are here and doing well in a setting different than a regular school. It fits what works for them.”
Contact reporter Jessica Groover: 704-789-9152
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