Our Graduations Have Not Slowed Down

Congrats to the First Graduate from FLEX High in Flint — While remote learning has been challenging for most of our students, some are flourishing – like Sher-Ron. He started at FLEX almost two years ago after struggling in his previous high school. In 9^th grade, he started falling behind in schoolwork and couldn’t catch up. Then his school closed, which helped him discover FLEX.

He was making slow but steady progress when COVID-19 hit, and Michigan’s Governor shut down all the schools in the state. Sher-Ron adapted right away to remote learning and he had a lot of encouragement from his mother and the FLEX High staff. Sher-Ron had a resurgence of motivation and in the next four months, he completed the last of his classes and became the first graduate of FLEX High School of Michigan. Principal Michael Springs and staff kicked off their first bell ringing. ​

Sher-Ron credits the staff for his success. “If not for the staff and coach JJ (Jeremy Jackson), I wouldn’t have been here. They wanted me to succeed.” She-Ron is looking into college, and his advice for fellow students, “Don’t give up. You might think it is not possible, but it is. Stay dedicated. Dedication will get you where you need to be.”​​

Graduation Made Special for 102 Grads — The Columbus FLEX staff wanted to be sure that each of its 102 graduates received the accolades they deserve for graduating during remote learning. So they invited students and their family members to come into the school one at a time to receive their diploma. Meanwhile, a professional video production company was capturing all the emotion and pride from the new grads.

The result is a fully produced, commemorative video of the school-wide graduation. It is complete with a welcome, invocation, poems and messages from students saying goodbye to their teachers and counselors. Watch it here.

In Ohio, we can enroll students who are over 22 years old. So this graduating class had a mother and her 18-year-old daughter earn their diplomas on the same day…and a set of twins who graduated together.