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12 Kirkwood
In-Depth
Call
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
The road less traveled:
The Julie Brown way:
dropping out gracefully
Julie Brown had a plan. Before Brown filed the paperwork to drop out of Kirkwood High
School, she researched, planned and presented a 16-page packet to her parents.
The packet detailed her future plans and the benefits of her choice to leave high
school before receiving her diploma. It worked. The paperwork was completed
and 17-year-old Brown is officially a high school drop out before her senior year.
But what Brown has done could hardly be considered dropping out.
“I prefer to call it unenrollment,” Brown said of her decision to leave
KHS for personal reasons. Some students say high school isn’t for
them, but Brown is different: She chose to do something about it.
While she prepares to take the General Educational Development
(GED) test, Brown works part-time at Global Foods.
According to the American Council on Education, GED
tests measure high school level skills and knowledge,
which Brown has plenty of. She has already been accepted
by St. John’s, a liberal arts college in Santa
Fe, NM, and is preparing to apply to other
schools such as Oregon State University.
“I’ll be starting college in January for the
winter term and then I’ll attend through
the summer term to be a sophomore
by the 2009 year,” Brown said.
This would place her ahead
of most of her classmates who
will only be college freshmen,
not sophomores, by 2009.
Brown talked to Emily Berty,
college counselor, for advice
before she made her decision.
“I talked to Ms. Berty to get a perspectiveonhowtogoaboutit,”Brown
said. “But all I really had to do was
get a form signed. People who didn’t
know about my plan tried to talk me
out of it, convince me not to do it.”
Brown wasn’t convinced and
stuck with her decision full force.
“I don’t regret it at all; I’m really
quite glad. I see it as moving ahead;
I’m not suffering from my choice.”
Brown warns other students
who are considering this option
to take a step back and understand
what they are getting into.
“Really think about it, consider
your circumstance,” Brown said.
“Make sure you have a plan and
a logical, viable reason to do it.” Julie Brown pushes grocery carts at her part-time job, Aug. 30. Brown works as a bagger and in the produce section of Global Foods while she waits to take her GED test.
Kirkwood
Dropout
Total Dropouts:
24 students
Rates 2007 Black Dropouts:
12 students
Hispanic Dropouts:
0 students
White Dropouts:
12 students