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Carmin Block honored as turnaround student
The awards, sponsored by Town and Country Lanes in Keizer, are given to students who made the effort to change their lives for the better. Many of these students were struggling in school and were on the verge of dropping out when they decided to make a change and turn their lives around. For their work and dedication, they were nominated by their schools as their Turnaround Achievement Award recipients. In addition to Block, the following students also received awards: Thomas Brinkman, Blanchet Catholic School; Jose Renteria, Claggett Creek Middle School; Colin Hatfield-Smith, Crossler Middle School; Blake Malone, Houck Middle School; Katelyn Schwab, Howard Street Charter School; Kyle Perkins, Judson Middle School; Song Her, Leslie Middle School; Aaron Peoples, Parrish Middle School; Austin Nichols, Stephens Middle School; Matt Oleum, Waldo Middle School; Snowanna Riley, Walker Middle School; Andrew Romero, Whiteaker Middle School; Marisol Morquecho, McKay High School; Ivan Boru, McNary High School; Sandra Ochoa, North Salem High School; Patrick Howell, SK Online; James Robinson-McCreery, South Salem High School; Savanna Norris, Sprague High School; and Nataly Villa, West Salem High School. As each student received his or her award, the staff member that nominated them spoke briefly about some of the things the student did to turn his or her life around. The following letter about Carmin Block was presented by Heather Burns, Community Schoolhouse teacher: "When Carmin Block
came to us as a freshman, she was a “rough and tough” girl that lived life
only one way…and that was her way! People
who approached Carmin were usually met with anger and hostility.
During her first two years at the Community Schoolhouse, Carmin skipped
school constantly. This behavior is
not acceptable at our school. When we confronted Carmin about it, she
would make promises to start attending school on a regular basis, and then she
would break her promises. Many
staff members remember feeling frustrated because we could not figure out a way
to get Carmin to understand how important it was for her to come to school.
No matter what interventions we tried, Carmin kept going down a path that
was destructive and detrimental to her future.
We saw the intelligence and the potential Carmin had, but it just
wasn’t coming through in her behavior at all. "Carmin’s academic
progress was so poor after two years that we had to tell her that she would not
be able to graduate from our school without putting forth a supreme effort in
our afternoon Bridge program. This
program was truly her last ditch chance to be able to graduate.
Last spring we all wondered how she would accept this challenge, and many
of us wondered if she would return to our school in the fall. "September rolled
around and Carmin showed up at school a changed person.
Our school's Youth Services Assistant, George Sanchez, said in his
nominating letter that 'I almost hit the ground' when Carmin started school this
year. She walked into school with
an aura of integrity, maturity and responsibility that we hadn’t seen before.
Carmin has turned into a dedicated student, who stays focused in the
classroom, takes care of academic business and has been an excellent example to
all our students. We are so proud
of her that we can hardly stand it! Carmin
has transformed her academic future from that of a high school dropout to
putting herself in position to graduate on time with her class next year.
"We always knew
Carmin had it in her to be a successful student. She is very intelligent and has
fantastic leadership potential. Now
Carmin knows it as well. Carmin has proven at a very young age that she can
accomplish any goal she sets her mind to. We
all look forward to watching her meet her amazing potential." |
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contact: school@communityschoolhouse.org |
The
21st Century
Carmin
Block, a