Sophomore Rosa Barragan has had a rough time in school. “I regret it, not doing good in school,” she said. Several students do not realize that high school is the beginning of what they might be doing in their future. Coming from middle school, freshmen do not take school as seriously as seniors who are preparing themselves for college.
Even though most universities do not see your ninth grade final grades, it does help to pass your ninth grade classes so you won’t have to re-take any of them again, and it helps you to be prepared for tenth grade. Incoming freshmen think high school is going to be just like middle school: a time to mess around and not pay attention.“I did not care when I barely came,” Rosa said.
English teacher Brian Reed is Rosa’s current English teacher and he has seen the improvement she has made in school. “Rosa is doing way better this semester… At the beginning of the year, she was very open about not wanting to do her homework and not really caring about anything and had a lot of difficulties in the class,”
Reed said
Rosa is currently undecided on whether she should move to another school, where it would be easier to graduate.
“I could graduate in Fremont,” Rosa said, “Ms. Risi even told me it is easier. I could graduate easier and get my credits easier.”
Rosa feels that if she stays at APB she is not going to be able to graduate, and it is necessary for her to move to another school because she really wants to graduate.
Reed believes that if Rosa–and students in general–leaves from APB she won’t have the same attention and care provided at APB. “Rosa may have to repeat some classes, but in the end she will be smarter in five years here than in four years in another school,” Reed said.
Later in high school, students realize they need to turn their life around and start doing well in school, but it is sometimes very hard to make up classes they failed and stay an extra year if they need credits to graduate.
“Incoming students should try their best in school because they are going to regret it,” Rosa said.
“You have to show students a path and help them see the consequences of hard work that when they stay after school for guided study helping them make the connection between work and results,” Reed said.
Rosa thinks it is very difficult for students to keep up with their grades and schoolwork, especially in charter schools. Rosa is trying to make up for the classes she failed.“I do my work now to bring up my grades,” Rosa said. She is trying to make up her grades by spending extra time in the classes she needs help in. “Now I see her almost everyday at lunch coming to check about her homework… She stays after school for guided study every week,” Reed
said.
However, Rosa does not see a major change in her grades because they improved, but later declined.Rosa had several problems that did not allow her to concentrate in school during ninth grade and she is still struggling to do good in her sophomore year.
“I changed my mind to do good in school because I promised somebody I would graduate from high school and college,” she said.
Even though Rosa was planning to move from APB, she concluded that it was best for her to stay in APB. “I decided to stay in APB to bring up my grades and finish my sophomore year here, but I will probably move my junior year,” she said.
Although Rosa has decided to stay in APB, there is still a big number amount of students who may end up leaving or not graduating. They are discouraged because they do not receive the attention they need or just do not like progressing in school. Rosa is motivated by the promise she made. “I graduated elementary and middle school and I just need high school and college,” she said.