York Region at-risk youth return to school in innovative Richmond Hill program

Yorkregion.com
Sept. 21, 2016
By Kim Zarzour

To the teachers at Sabrina’s high school, she was just another student slacker, ducking out of class for a smoke or a toke.

What they didn’t know was the York Region teenager was carrying a heavy load in life, and school was the least of her concerns.

With pigtails, freckles and braces, the 17-year-old looks like a typical teen, but Sabrina is quick to tell you, she is not.

“My mother was very abusive; she was just crazy.”

Her siblings moved out at age 15 and 17 and when she reached 15, she left home too.

With nothing but the clothes on her back and her backpack from school, she survived on the streets, sleeping in shelters and friends’ couches.

She tried to stay focused on school, but it was hard.

“The other kids were talking about getting new iPhones and I was thinking about where am I going to get food, where am I going to sleep.”

Sabrina managed to find a job and a group home, but it was a one-hour bus ride from her school and the days were long, from classroom to work and back to the group home, not returning until midnight each night.

Anxiety and panic attacks struck regularly. At times, she said, the only way she could calm down enough to sit in class was by slipping out and getting high.

“Teachers think all teenagers are the same. Normal. They didn’t get it.”

Today, Sabrina has found a teacher who does get it and she has found direction and hope through iGrad, an innovative new program at 360Kids Youth Hub in Richmond Hill.

The Hub, located on Yonge Street, offers shelter and support to vulnerable youth and this September, it welcomed a new program that helps young people continue their education.

iGrad is an alternative-education program, presented through partnership between 360Kids, York Region school board and the Region of York, that addresses the unique educational needs of youth who are at-risk or homeless. Courses are provided online, at students’ own pace, with help from a York Region District School Board teacher, Sarah Strachan.

“A lot of these kids, they’ve come to the point in their life where they realize, ‘I have to move on ... I have to make something better of myself.’ But their personal life may have interfered with schooling and they could not focus,” Strachan said.

Many also battle mental illness; a structured system with rigid timelines didn’t work for them, she said.

Launched this fall iGrad boasts 14 students from their teens to early 20s. One of first students to sign up was Devonté Jarrett, a Richmond Hill 21-year-old who left home three years ago.

Since starting class, he said he has developed an optimistic new outlook on life.

“Now I have the knowledge and hope that I can get it done. Before I was freaking out, where do go, how do I afford it, would I ever be able to get into college or university?’”

Here, in this brand new classroom filled with computers attached to The Hub’s friend-filled living room, Jarrett is getting the on-one-one help he needs, and there’s none of the stigma he experienced in the special ed program at his mainstream school.

“I’ve always had goals but haven’t been able to stay on one track. Now I know what I need to do and how to do it.”

Every public high school in York Region offers an alternative education classroom in the school, says Tod Dungey, principal, Continuing Education Services for the board. Most of the kids at The Hub, however, have experienced barriers and challenges to being in a school, he said.

“We wanted to bring school to them.”

It’s a first of its kind in the province, Dungey said. Each student in iGrad has an individual program that may be focused on completing that one missing credit for graduation, upgrading a course for entrance into college or a full 12 courses to earn a high school diploma. Some take co-op job placements to earn credits.

“What’s unique and what works with this model is it’s very, very flexible and caters to the student," Strachan said. "They all have a completely different story but for most of them, the bottom fell out and focusing in a classroom and showing up every day is not something they’re able to do at this point in time. But they all have an intense desire to succeed and move on in life.”

Adelina Urbanski, commission of Community and Health Services, York Region, said the partnership that created iGrad is an example of the community coming together to make a real impact.

Jarrett looks forward towards a social work career, Sabrina to a career as child and youth worker. 360Kids Executive Director Michael Braithwaite said it shows iGrad is shining light at the end of the tunnel for kids who may have given up.

“Michael J. Fox says it best,” he said. “If kids don’t learn the way we teach, then we should teach the way they learn.”