Graduation Matters Montana
St. Ignatius showcases student work, graduation initiative
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You could say Twyla Hogge is more than ecstatic to graduate from high school. The bubbly senior rattled off her dreams for the future while waiting to deliver her senior speech in front of family and friends during the annual community showcase April 26 at St. Ignatius High School. Her plans will take her down the road to Salish Kootenai College and eventually south to Boulder College in Colorado.
As Hogge signed her Graduation Montana Matters pledge, a vow that she will graduate from high school, she admitted college wasn’t a goal that was always on her mind.
This year, St. Ignatius High School joins high schools, communities, students, residents and businesses throughout Montana in pledging to ensure graduation for more than 2,000 Montana students who drop out of high school each year.
Denise Juneau, Superintendent of Montana Schools, launched Graduation Matters Montana, a statewide effort to ensure that Montana’s schools are meeting the goal of graduating more students ready for college and careers.
Hogge said a program like Graduation Matters would have been nice when she was younger.
“I didn’t start school until the eighth grade,” Hogge said, adding that she was homeschooled until that point. “I’m really excited to graduate and go to college.”
During the showcase, people milled about the high school, middle school and elementary buildings reading posters, listening to presentations and flipping through scrapbooks assembled by students — the perfect backdrop to introduce the community to Graduation Matters Montana’s multi-faceted effort.
“(The community showcase) is our annual event where we share what wonderful things we do here at St. Ignatius,” said high school principal Jason Sargent.
St. Ignatius Schools also received a $10,000 startup grant to help establish Graduation Matters Montana in the school and community.
“We will hire a program manager so we will have someone working on this initiative throughout the day,” Sargent said, noting that the money will also go toward professional and staff development.
“This is the best K-12 Graduation Matters I’ve seen in the state so far,” keynote speaker Juneau confessed to the crowd assembled in the high school gymnasium. She noted how impressed she was by the projects displayed throughout the school and especially the essays written by elementary students about their goals to graduate and attend college.
“I can tell you, hands down, that this has not happened anywhere else,” Juneau said.
Juneau explained the initiative was founded on the belief that a set of expectations for every child in Montana was needed in order for him or her to graduate. In addition to Graduation Matters, Juneau has also supported bills to raise the legal dropout age from 16 to 18 and establish definitions and procedures for anti-bullying policies in school districts. She is also working with the Montana Department of Labor to expand Jobs for Montana’s Graduates, which provides classroom instruction and work-based learning opportunities for high school dropouts ages 16-18 and students in seventh-12th grade.
Graduation Matters Montana initiatives have also sprung up in Missoula, Kalispell, Libby and Polson.
“Our goal is 100-percent graduation with 0-percent dropout,” Sargent added. “It’s not just about graduation; it’s also about making sure (students) are college and career-ready.”
