Two years ago T'Nise Harper was a high school dropout and pregnant. Thursday night the 19-year-old received her high school diploma.
She was one of 10 students honored at a graduation ceremony for Lake Superior High School, a Duluth charter school that sometimes serves as the final net for students in danger of dropping out of the education system altogether.
"I probably would have dropped out and never even thought about going back if it wasn't for this place," Harper said. "I just didn't think I could come this far."
Harper's story is not uncommon at Lake Superior, said Principal Lucy Hart. Many of the school's roughly 80 students were floundering at other high schools before transferring as sophomores, juniors and sometimes seniors.
Sometimes their problems were simply the cause of poor performance in the traditional high school environment. But much of it has to do with the students' life experiences, Hart said.
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About 70 percent come from families with income low enough to qualify for free-and-reduced lunch, compared to about 40 percent at Denfeld High School, the Duluth public high school with the highest student poverty rate. That background sometimes means an unstable home life in which students bounce from home to home or caregiver to caregiver.
"We also have more students than we'd like to see that get pregnant ... that have previously dropped out of school ... that are addicted to drugs and alcohol," Hart said.
Harper was failing at East High School before transferring to Lake Superior as a junior. Her grades improved, but when she learned she didn't have enough credits to graduate on time, she dropped out. She went back after finding out she was pregnant.
"I know how much a diploma helps with getting jobs and stuff, so when I found out I was pregnant, I thought I should probably go back," Harper said.
She lasted for awhile, but when it got uncomfortable to sit in a desk with her growing belly, she choose to do her school work from home and eventually dropped out again.
With an infant at home, she came back this year to finally finish what she started.
Harper said she credits Lake Superior's flexibility, personal attention and hands-on instruction for helping her get it done.
"They really just work with you here to get your stuff done if you want to. I don't think I have failed anything this year, which is pretty good," Harper said.
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Watching students like Harper receive their diploma is one of the highlights of the school year for Hart, she said.
"I have gotten to know these kids pretty well, so to watch them evolve to this point is pretty exciting," she said. "A lot of our students are the first in their family to get a high school diploma, so it's a big deal."
With high school behind her, Harper is planning to get a job to help support her son and get an apartment of her own. She also is looking into going to college someday to become a veterinarian.
"I know I can't just finish high school and say I am going to be a vet today, so I'll probably get educated in that field," she said. "I now know how important it is to go to school."
