Class of 2009 graduates featured in Boston's "Next Stop, College" campaign

BOSTON – Boston Public Schools (BPS) has launched the second phase of a campaign to generate public awareness and support for the city’s public high schools and graduates. The “Next Stop, College” campaign features two members of the Class of 2009 who are receiving high school diplomas this month and entering college. The transit advertisements include quotes from the students about how their high schools have helped prepare them to achieve their college and career goals.

The advertisements began appearing last month in MBTA buses and subways and on bus shelters throughout the city. The school district launched the first iteration of the campaign in the spring of 2008. The campaign is funded through grants from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation to support the transformation of Boston’s public high schools. No public funds were used to develop or place the advertisements.

This year’s campaign features Sha-Lee Flavius of Dorchester, graduating from Charlestown High School, and Melissa Rocha of South Boston, the 2009 valedictorian from Health Careers Academy.

Raised by his grandparents, Sha-Lee Flavius is an excellent student and athlete. A Boston Public Schools student since the first grade, Sha-Lee played on his high school basketball team and challenged himself by taking five Advanced Placement classes. He scored at the highest level, Advanced, on the high school Mathematics MCAS exam. In his transit poster, he highlights the successful school-to-career program at Charlestown High School, saying, “My school’s connections to top colleges and businesses gave me opportunities to go where I want in life and meet people from all over the world.” Sha-Lee will attend Boston College next year.

A Boston Public Schools student since pre-Kindergarten, Melissa Rocha has wanted to be a trauma surgeon since the seventh grade. She graduates this month from Health Careers Academy, a high school that offers students the opportunity to explore careers in the health fields. Melissa scored Advanced on both the English and Mathematics sections of the high school MCAS exams. She will attend Rochester Medical School next year.

“These two remarkable students represent the thousands of young men and women who are earning high school diplomas throughout the City of Boston this month,” said Superintendent Carol R. Johnson. “Every graduate who walks across the stage in cap and gown has worked so hard to achieve academic excellence. We congratulate them – as well as their families, teachers, friends and supporters – and wish them the very best for continued success in college and beyond.”

Over the past decade, Boston has undertaken an ambitious agenda to transform all of the city’s public high schools into rigorous programs that provide personalized, challenging opportunities for all students. The portfolio of schools now includes comprehensive high schools organized into small learning communities, small high schools, pilot schools, exam schools, a technical-vocational school, and alternative programs.

Dr. Johnson has made “Graduation for All” one of the cornerstones of the Acceleration Agenda to transform the Boston Public Schools. She has established annual goals to improve the graduation rate, as well as investment in academic priorities for dropout prevention and recovery, including:
· A Transition Center to help students get back on track after chronic absence or having dropped out;
· Newcomers Academy for students who arrive in this country during the school year, with little or no formal school in their home country;
· Credit Recovery programs during the summer and school year, which last summer enabled more than 120 additional members of the Class of 2008 earn a diploma in August; and
· More rigorous courses, particularly Advanced Placement classes, to keep students challenged and engaged in every high school.

In November 2008, Mayor Thomas M. Menino joined Superintendent Johnson, the Boston School Committee, and leaders from higher education, business, philanthropy and community organizations to announce plans to double the college graduation rates among BPS graduates, beginning with the graduating Class of 2011. The effort includes commitments to increase college access for Boston graduates, as well as supports to ensure their success in higher education.

The “Next Stop, College” campaign was developed by the BPS Communications Office in collaboration with the Boston-based agency ARGUS (www.thinkargus.com), with support from the BPS Office of High School Support and its partner organizations, the Boston Private Industry Council, Jobs for the Future, the Boston Plan for Excellence, the Center for Collaborative Education, and Freedom House.

Related stories:

BPS graduates overcome obstacles to earn high school diplomas

Boston Public Schools honors Class of 2009 Valedictorians

Boston schools show improvement in four-year high school graduation rate

Mayor Menino to double the college graduation rate for Boston students