Success Stories

Elijah was already struggling at times with his studying, when a loss in the family caused him to fall even further behind “I kind of got lost studying. It was very hard for me. Then with my grandma, you know, she was gone. I missed out on half a year,” he says, reflecting on missing so much time: “we definitely get forgotten during middle school.” 

“It’s nerve wracking in the beginning,” Ariel says of changing high schools to come to North Nicholas. “I missed time. I didn’t make my credits.”

He found quick success at North Nicholas. “Here it’s way better. You can level up in your classes faster. Here it’s more concentrated. That’s easier for me. I like this way better,” he says, before adding, “I love it.”

“If I could talk to my younger self,” Makena imagines, “I would have told her: ‘You should have listened when you started falling behind sophomore year and were told about North Nicholas. You could have caught up then in a year and graduated on time.’ If my younger self had listened, I would have graduated on time. But, everything happens for a reason, and I’m so glad I came here. I just wish I would’ve come here sooner.”

“It’s good money,” Jack says of his job, where he works installing screen enclosures, before explaining what keeps him motivated these days as he finishes high school, “but I want something new.” He explains, “I’ve only done it for a year, but I’m ready for something more. I don’t want to work in the sun all day. I want to use my brain. The money is there, but I don’t want to be the manual labor guy. That’s not it for me.”