Walking down the stage, shaking hands with administrators and receiving a high school diploma mark one of the largest achievements in the lives of most teens. Years of studying, stress and Starbucks coffee all lead to this moment. However, this only occurs when a student meets the graduation requirement. A new club, Reaching Success Together (RST), strives to achieve this very goal.
Reaching For Success aims to work with students who are not on a secure track to graduating. Qualified student mentors volunteer to help students reach their full potential, which improves the academic success of CCHS. Mentors are students with a 3.0 or higher GPA who wish to register and contribute every Friday.
“For right now we’re meeting every Friday,” club sponsor Dwayne Dixon said. “You can register to be a mentor with me or with Svetlana.”
“I want this club to influence our school so that people who may have given up on themselves academically learn that there is still hope to succeed and [there are] many opportunities around them.”
This new club, which was approved this August, was originally created last year with the purpose based off of a county initiative called Mentoring Tomorrow’s Leaders (MTL).
“MTL is a program in other Broward County schools for African-American males. It focuses on community outreach, academics and of course mentorship,” RST President Svetlana Johnson said. “RST is based off of those principles, however, we expanded our membership requirements to be more inclusive to Cooper City.”
CCHS didn’t have an MTL program or any other type of club geared towards graduation specifically until now. Johnson was approached with this new club idea by Dixon, who helped appoint the president, secretary and treasurer in order to help collaborate, rebrand and create RST.
“I applied for a position because I like being that person people fall back on, especially for our mentees,” RST Secretary Kaylyn Myers said. “I want this club to influence our school so that people who may have given up on themselves academically learn that there is still hope to succeed and [there are] many opportunities around them.”
CCHS has a 96 percent graduation rate, but with the creation of RST, there is potential to increase this rate and have even more students walk across the stage at the end of their senior year.
RST is not exclusive to students not on the path to graduating, but also for others who are interested in any way about RST.
“I considered joining because I saw a Remind [message] inviting everyone to come be a mentor,” junior Hadley Holman said. “I was curious to know what it was about and now I think it would be cool [to] have that opportunity to help people around me.”
With RST, students gain an interactive source of help not available with other graduation resources. The idea of a student mentoring system allows information and advice to be shared by individuals with first-hand experience. CCHS has a 96 percent graduation rate, but with the creation of RST, there is potential to increase this rate and have even more students walk across the stage at the end of their senior year.
Photo by The Lariat Photography
