Low-Income & Minority High School Grads Impacted by Corona Delay College

ly, Jone’s Petroleum, employs a lot of high school students. Joann Hedrick, district manager, said. “During this last year, we had 4 – 6 stockers (high school students).”

They chose to work rather than complete courses online. So Larry’s 4-Way has a Foothills Charter High School student and several guys working 32 – 40 hours. Another guy graduated from Ola High School. He is still working with them.

Pursuing A Different Path

Hedrick also mentioned a graduate from JCHS. Although he had worked part time for two years, he told her that he wanted to “decide his next chapter and enjoy his summer.”

GOSA statistics reported “unknown” or the mysterious “next chapter” as 11 percent. For low-income and minority students, this may be the path they take. Experts advise parents to encourage their teens to focus on problem solving and resilience during the pandemic. Just because you can’t necessarily define your next step does not mean that you can’t make a valuable contribution.

Volunteer with a nonprofit and possibly earn college credit from a PLA (Prior Learning Assessment) program. Find a mentor on LinkedIn or the International Mentoring Association. Coursera and edX have free and low-cost courses that could lead to a college degree.

They also offer tuition assistance. Whatever you do, cultivate resiliency. It’s a skill everyone needs to move toward a rewarding future.

JASPER COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL

Year Students White Black Hispanic Multi-Race Economically Disabled

Disadvantaged

2020 — — — — — — —

2019 718 480 155 59 24 401 81

2018 711 476 155 53 27 436 74