The 21st Century Scholar Transformation

Michael Cunningham earned the first “A” grade of his life when he arrived to 21^st Century Secondary Charter School.  After having earned D’s and F’s in his previous school, this first grade gave him a lot of hope about his future at 21^st Century.  His first A grade wasn’t without a lot of work however.  Michael Cunningham credits Mr. Ford with catching him up to speed in the challenging Math classes offered at the 21^st Century Charter Secondary School .  Mr. Ford noticed that Michael wasn’t sure of what to do in class, but saw that Michael clearly had potential, so he worked with Michael individually each class period to make sure he understood the lessons and catch him up with Math from previous years that Michael hadn’t mastered. Mr. Ford was the first teacher to teach Michael any advanced math skills.

Being at 21^st Century Charter Secondary School has motivated Michael to work hard for himself. He currently attends tutoring every day for one hour where he stays on task and works on homework or gets extra help from teachers.  Students aren’t allowed to talk or socialize during tutoring, so Michael says he is able to utlize this hour well.

Michael transferred from Roosevelt High School to 21^st Century Charter Secondary School  to find a place where all students were focused on learning and post-college success, where students were challenged.  Michael also benefitted from the small school environment—there wasn’t anywhere for him to go to skip class or hang out with friends—the only place for him to go is to class. He is also surrounded by motivated peers that have inspired him to pursue a four year college as well.  Michael was so motivated by his peers that he even signed up for an Ivy Tech class through the 21^st Century Early College Program.  Through this class, he’s been strengthening his communications skills, learning how to write a resume and cover letter, write an essay, and strengthening his public speaking skills.

Michael knows it won’t be easy to gain acceptance to a four year school. He arrived as a junior to 21^st Century with a 1.1 GPA and has been steadily working hard since then to raise his grades and his chances of attending a four year school.  Michael’s mother is so proud that he has earned mostly A’s and B’s since joining 21^st Century Charter School, and hasn’t had any incomplete grades.  21^st Century teachers like Ms. Nowicky are invested in him too—she regularly works with him during study hall on ACT prep work.  

At first, attending school at 21^st Century was a shock—“there wasn’t anywhere to wander around, and there were so many adults on the lookout,” he says as he laughs.  Michael feels safe here at 21^st Century.  He’s able to focus when he comes to school because he doesn’t have to worry about fights, other students stealing from him, violence in the hallways, and unruly classrooms. He’s able to focus on academics, work with teachers like Mr. Smalley on improving his vocabulary on a one on one basis.

Mr. Ford, a Math teacher at 21^st Century Secondary Charter School  remembers Michael when he first started at the school.  Mr. Ford knew Michael had potential, and he saw Michael as a good person and a good role model.

Michael has seen a transformation within himself as a result of attending 21^st Century Secondary Charter School.  He now does homework every single night, as opposed to not receiving any homework at his former school.  And he works hard on his homework because he knows he wants to go to college—a want that arose once he arrived at 21^st Century.  Michael knows he’s behind his classmates in terms of where he stands in terms of achieving his future goals, but he’s determined to make it happen nevertheless.  He regrets not coming to 21^st Century sooner, and not being able to complete an Associate’s Degree while he completes his high school education.

21^st Century took Michael on his first college visit—to Ashford University.  He had never been to a college campus before, and his only impressions were from television. Michael wants to become a part of the diversity and challenge of college--by meeting new people from different places and backgrounds, taking different classes, After visiting Ashford University with 21C, Michael decided that he also wanted to attend and graduate from a four year college. 

21st Century has fueled Michael to want more for himself, and his future family, including a wife and children.  Michael says that previously, he didn't think that far ahead in the future.  Now at 21st Century, all he hears and thinks about is the future.  "I want to work hard for my self and my family," Michael says. 

Michael is even honing his basketball skills as the Forward position on the 21^st century basketball team—while he used to play basketball on the street, this is the first time Michael has ever played on a team—and he says practice is rough since he never really exercised before. He has to work hard to stay and keep in shape in order to compete and play the game.  His basketball team is like a family to him, he says.

In the future, Michael wants to pursue a mass communications program at a four year college and work in the radio or TV industry.  As Michael said, “I am going to make my dreams happen.” 

21C Alumna Plans to Volunteer in Rwanda in the Spring!

Felicia Nunn may be your child’s pediatrician one day.  The straight A Honor society graduate from 21^st Century Charter School currently attends the University of Central Arkansas and is in a pre-med program and aims to become a medical student at Yale or Vanderbilt medical schools.  Speaking quietly outside of the university library where she studies each night (except for Friday and Saturday nights!) Ms. Nunn describes her 21^st Century experience as enriched with academics and activities.  Felicia enjoyed the small class sizes, support and high expectations she experienced since the 5^th grade at 21C.  

While she successfully earned straight As from 7^th through 12^th grade, Ms. Nunn also kept herself busy with extracurricular activities, from performing the track and field shock put and disc event, band, cheerleading, basketball, and competing with the dance team, Felicia emanates school spirit.  She heralded her senior class through Senior year by serving as Student Government president and leading the organization of community service, graduation, and prom.  Felicia also served as a volunteer at a local park concerned about endangered species through the AmeriCorps program during her senior year.  Outside of school, she is still an active participant at church, and is currently raising money to travel to Rwanda to volunteer teach science for one month. Felicia is a tight time manager and is doing well in all of her classes with her career as a pediatrician always in mind.    

Thriving 21C Alumna: Quiliana Adderly

21^st Century Charter School alumna Quiliana Adderly is a determined young woman who would like to become a social worker and return to her Gary community to help other young women and students like herself.  Ms. Adderly began attending 21^st Century Charter School in 7^th grade  because her mother’s concern about the Gary Public Schools, and continued there through 12^th grade.  While a student, 21^st Century Charter School history teacher Mr. Cherry inspired Quiliana to become a social worker through his bright outlook on life in spite of his own life struggles.  Quiliana is choosing to pursue a strong and successful life for herself, and part of her motivation to do this is her son.  While a freshmen in high school, Quiliana became pregnant and gave birth to a baby boy who is now three years old.    Quiliana remembers Mr. Cherry teaching her how hard it is to succeed, and, how important it is to never give up on oneself.  Rather than allow becoming a teenaged mother hinder her educational success, Quiliana continued to maintain an honors level GPA, do well in her classes and work hard to achieve her goal of going to college and helping her community. 

Ms. Catisha Coates, guidance counselor at 21^st Century was a positive influence on Quiliana and mentored Quiliana through the entire college application process including the college search, scholarship/financial aid applications, and SAT/ACT exams all the way through her decision to attend IU-Bloomington.  Quiliana proudly states that she had the highest SAT and ACT scores out of her senior class. Ms. Coates also helped Quiliana win the Hudson Hollands Scholarship, and the 21^st Century Scholarship which pays for Quiliana’s board and tuition. 

Quiliana laughs warmly as she talks about how much of an adjustment it was for to move from Gary to Bloomington.  She talks about her initial surprise about how friendly and helpful people were, how safe she felt in Bloomington at night, and her continuing struggles to adjust to collegiate life.  As a student and parent, Quiliana knows she struggles more than other students to keep on top of academic work, paying bills, taking care of herself and her son, and having a little bit of social time.  Quiliana is currently taking a full first semester load towards her social work degree but doesn’t have much time to get involved in clubs and activities. However, when Quiliana looks at her son each morning and he is her inspiration to get up and work hard in college, maintain at least a 3.5 GPA and create a strong life that she can be proud of now and in the future.  She wants her son to see that she struggled, worked hard when life wasn’t easy, and make a better life for herself and her son. 

As a part of her scholarships academic support, Quiliana attended a 6 week summer program at IU-Groups Scholars program, targeted towards first generation and underrepresented students entering the university.  She took classes daily, completed her daily homework assignments, lived on campus, made friends, and began the transition to college life. Now in the full swing of her freshmen semester, Quiliana realizes that her reality is tough—she is a single mother as well as a full time college student. But nothing will hold her back.  Quiliana wants to make herself, her son and family, her school, and Mr. Cherry proud, and wants to prove to those who doubted her ability to attend college that she will succeed and achieve her goals.  She wants her hard work and perseverance to be an example for her son, sisters, and everyone in Gary.  

21st Century Scholar Continues to Succeed at Purdue

Vincent Pena is well-remembered by 21^st Century Charter School at Gary, a GEO Foundation school, as a perseverant young man who earned an Associate’s Degree worth of credits. Vincent Pena is a Spanish speaking student who won both a Purdue Promise and 21^st Century Scholars scholarship that allows him to attend Purdue University cost-free.  Speaking with him now, he still has that same quiet perseverant attitude toward life.  When asked what he considers to be success in his life, it isn’t a big pay check, a high position in a big company, or fame.  He states that success in his life will be, “the ability to help others, make the world a better place, and improve society.” 

He is now studying at Purdue University, and although he is a freshmen student, academically, he has second semester sophomore standing. He is planning on majoring in computer graphics and minoring in computer science. He is working towards those goals from the very get-go, his current classes—Tech 120, a design and innovation class that has students think about ways to solve campus problems such as traffic redirection, English, Calculus, and an elective are a part of his major requirements.  Vincent’s long term goal is to complete the 3+2 program—he plans to complete his bachelor’s degree in computer graphics and his master’s degree in computer graphics technology in 5 years. 

Over the summer, Vincent spent 5 weeks in a program with other students taking classes and getting prepared for the semester to begin.  During this program, Pena attended classes: STEM ABC (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math—Academic Boot Camp), Pre-Calc, English, Spatial Visualization, and Computer Information Technology, in order to prepare him to start strong in his first semester classes.  He attended this program through Purdue Promise, a program geared towards ensuring the success of first generation and low-income students at Purdue. Participating in the program allowed Vincent to get to know people and make friends before school began, get adjusted to dorm life, and become academically prepared before the semester began.

Vincent is adapting to life at Purdue seamlessly. He likes the large university campus and is excited to meet lots of different people, balanced with attending smaller sized classes.  He lives in a learning community in which his hall and roommate are all studying computer graphics and technology, which is convenient so they can help each other.  His GPA goal per semester is at least a 3.5. He is currently in the process of joining an academic fraternity, Phi Delta Theta, and participates in MTA, Minority Technology Association.  He is also planning on getting internships in computer graphics and considers studying abroad in Australia over the summer. In his free time, he enjoys playing basketball with friends and playing video games with his hall mates.