Kellogg Community College President Dennis Bona was among the many community leaders this morning who attended an event to celebrate the collaboration between the college and Marshall Public Schools that provides classroom space to Marshall Alternative High School students at KCC’s Eastern Academic Center, located at 14055 26 Mile Road in Albion.
The event centered on a panel of eight alternative high school students who spoke about their experiences studying at the academic center and answered questions from the audience.
“This is a program from the heart,” Randy Davis, superintendent of Marshall Public Schools, said in his opening remarks. “We’ve worked really hard to make sure these kids and other kids recognize their potential.”
Many of the students who spoke have conquered significant obstacles in their pursuit of an education, including disabilities, abuse, pregnancy, homelessness and lack of transportation.
Among the students was a young woman who on one of the hottest days of the summer last year walked three miles in flip flops to get to class because she didn’t have a ride. Another young man currently drives a 70-mile commute each day just to make it to class.
A common theme expressed by the students was the belief that the alternative school program has given them opportunities they likely wouldn’t otherwise have been afforded.
“I thought I was gonna be on the streets, doing whatever,” one young man, who recently enrolled for summer classes at Kellogg Community College, said. “Now I plan on going far.”
For more information about Kellogg Community College’s Eastern Academic Center, visit www.kellogg.edu/regional/eac/index.html.