Local Foothills Student Earns Top Regional Graduate Honors
Top academic graduate Trenton Keith Lollar from Jasper County Foothills School spoke at the regional graduation on how the Foothills program worked for him and allowed him to graduate.
“If it hadn’t been for Foothills, I probably would have been a high school dropout,” said Lollar. “I have been enrolled for two years and I graduated a semester early because I was able to work at my own pace. The reason I enrolled in Foothills is because a lot was going on in my life and I was not able to attend regular school. Foothills was there.”
After graduation, Lollar joined an apprenticeship program and is now working as an electrician.
Site director Buddy Cain presented a scholarship to Lollar for being the Top Honor Graduate for this class and spoke on his success.
“Trent is a great student,” Cain said. “To me, he is the perfect Foothills student. He worked at home. He came two to three days a week and, when he was there, he would work. He was determined to graduate.”
Second Top Honor Graduate, Jessica Ekstrom, Morgan site, was also recognized and given a scholarship. When walking across the stage to get her diploma, she carried her young baby, who was wearing a matching blue cap and gown.
It was the largest regional graduation held so far for Foothills Education Charter High School with 71 students receiving a diploma to a standing-room crowd of more than 550.
Graduates from the Baldwin, Barrow-Russell, Barrow-Sims, Clarke, Franklin, Greene, Jackson, Jasper, Madison, Morgan, Social Circle and Walton sites, as well as the virtual site and the Youth Challenge Program, were recognized.
The Regional Graduation was hosted by Walton Foothills and held in Monroe.
Guest speaker Jordan DeSalvo said he is the perfect example of a student who learned how those life skills (he learned through the Foothills program) will make you successful in life.
“I am a Foothills graduate who also wore a blue cap and gown,” DeSalvo said. “The only difference is that I completed my high school diploma while incarcerated at a state prison at Burruss Correctional Center.”
DeSalvo said he made a “big mistake that changed my life in a big way” and Foothills gave him a “second chance.”
“Foothills was a get-away for me but it also taught me so much,” he said. “I came home motivated to continue my education and I enrolled in college. I am now a college graduate with two associate degrees and working in my major. I am now a service tech for a global company.”
He told the graduates, “Be proud of your Foothills diploma. It can open so many doors for you.”
Superintendent Dr. Sherrie Gibney-Sherman spoke and offered congratulations to the students.
“Thank you all for giving us a reason to celebrate,” she told the students. “You are the reason we are here. You have earned this. The feeling you have tonight, don’t ever let that leave your memory. You worked hard to be here.”
Dr. Gibney-Sherman also spoke on legislative efforts that will keep Foothills in operation across the state. She introduced Rep. Spencer Frye, who attended the graduation ceremony.
“Rep. Spencer Frye will be working with other legislators in January to address a law to ensure that Foothills stays open forever and ever so that students like you will have this opportunity,” she said. “Let your legislators know that Foothills was important for you.”
She also said, “We need to remain an institute that is independent. We also need to continue to have a state-wide attendance zone. We want to work a way that our funding is sustainable and our legislators can budget it every year and plan for that. Please help us help other students across the state to have this opportunity. Contact your legislators and let them know Foothills needs to stay.”
Foothills opened in 2015 and there are currently 3,020 students enrolled. Students come from 70 counties throughout the state. There are 21 total sites: 15 at campuses owned by school district partners, three at state prisons, two at Youth Challenge Program facilities and one 100 percent virtual site.