Distance Learning

New Program Offers Mentoring, Online Education to At-Risk Students

• By Michael Hart
• 07/21/15

A new nonprofit in Flint, MI, Gearup2Lead, will offer at-risk students throughout Michigan the opportunity to earn a high school diploma online and participate in activities in which they work with mentors and act as mentors themselves.

In conjunction with Graduation Alliance, students selected for the Heroic Leadership Academy, beginning with the 2015-16 school year, will:

• Work through Graduation Alliance's online alternative curriculum to earn a high school diploma with free laptops and wireless access;
• Attend weekly leadership training sessions and life skill workshops offered by Gearup2Lead;
• Work with local organizations and businesses on projects designed to build better communities where they live;
• Meet regularly with community and college mentors; and
• Be mentors themselves to younger students at the Whaley Children's Center in Flint.

"Our core mission is to help student achieve a high school diploma and draw out the best characteristics that are already within them," said Gearup2Lead Executive Director Adam Hartley. "We want our students to feel what it's like to be a heroic leader."

Students who are ages 15-19 from throughout the state of Michigan can apply to enroll in the program through Michigan's Schools of Choices initiative.

Graduation Alliance, which offers online alternative education and training programs, recently announced its participation in a similar partnership with the Davenport Community School District in Davenport, IA.