The Ignite Institute is now on its third year of students attending for all four years of their high school careers, and Principal Jerome Gels is touting the achievements of what is arguably the school’s most successful cohort to date.
“Their achievements are incredible,” Gels said. “We had over a third of them – it’s our highest percentage – that has received the associate’s degree. About 60% of the class will enter college as sophomores, as well.”
A handful of students from the institute, a STEAM-focused alternative high school that first opened in 2019, will also enter college as seniors and one student, Hajar Elayyadi whose home district is Boone County Schools, recently graduated with a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from NKU, in addition to her high school diploma.
The pandemic, believe it or not, was the wellspring from which Elayyadi drew her success, Gels said. Elayyadi was still in middle school during the lock downs, and had inquired about taking high school classes with her principal at Conner Middle School, James Brewer, who thought it was a good idea. Elayyadi managed to complete her math and English credits quickly enough to begin enrolling in dual-credit courses early.
Elayyadi told LINK nky’s media partner, WCPO, about the hectic schedule she had to maintain in order to graduate with both a high school diploma and a university degree.
“I had semesters, especially these last two, that were 21-credit-hour semesters,” Elayyadi told WCPO. “So they were packed… 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. And then I would be ushered back to Ignite on the days I needed to be there, and then go back for my studies after school.”
She intends to study for her master’s degree at the University of Cincinnati while preparing for the MCATs to become a doctor. She said her goal is to work in emergency medicine or as an OBGYN. She’s also been offered a graduate assistantship.
Ignite’s dual-credit programs with colleges, not only NKU but also Gateway, Thomas More University, EKU and (sometimes) UC, allow students to earn college credit while still in high school.
Ignite has several tracks, such as biomedical and health sciences, engineering, design, computer science and education. Although it’s not the only program Ignite offers, Gels said it was a “very important passion” of his, as students who graduate high school with college credit are more likely to finish their degrees.
Elayyadi’s achievements are just the tip of the iceberg. This year also saw two students on Individualized Education Programs, or IEPs, who finished school with associate’s degrees: Mason Carter and Erin Wiehe.
Carter told LINK nky that he struggled in elementary school before getting on his IEP. Carter actually didn’t receive his diagnosis of dyslexia until he was already a teen, although he and his father, Tim Carter, knew he had some kind of learning disability.
“The system kind of gave up on me a little bit there,” Mason Carter told LINK nky, but in fifth grade his teacher at North Pointe Elementary, Debbie Zegarra, who would later go on to found mental health nonprofit Ethan’s Purpose, recognized his potential, Mason Carter said, and that’s really when his educational journey began in earnest.
Fast forward to this year, and Mason Carter is graduating with an associate’s degree from Ignite’s engineering track, has completed an internship with Hebron-based aerospace manufacturer Skilcraft and has been offered a scholarship to the University of Louisville to study electrical engineering.
Much of the work with IEP students, said Ignite Special Education Teacher Jessica Poe, who worked with Mason Carter and Erin Wiehe, focuses not just on subject teaching but also on working with colleges to provide proper accommodations for the students’ disabilities. Part of the process was also helping the students advocate for themselves in the adult world.
Poe said this included things like “meeting with Gateway [Community and Technical College] to talk about the accommodations they would need, what they need to be successful, teaching them how to talk to professors, to request extended time, things of that nature; just teaching them how to do life in the real world, so that they still did meet their deadlines or had that accommodation in place to be able to reach the deadline that the professor and them had agreed upon.”
Erin Wiehe said she initially struggled with one of her first classes at Gateway, a computer science class.
“One of my very first college classes I took actually failed because I wasn’t prepared for the workload that college had, and there was no support,” said Wiehe.
Wiehe was in Ignite’s design track. Her mother, Jenni Wiehe, said her daughter struggled with reading comprehension in elementary school, an observation that eventually led her to get an IEP. In spite of the early troubles with the computer science course, she retook the class and managed to pass.
“I did retake the class, and I passed it with an A,” Erin Wiehe said. “Ever since then, I was always organized with my work, and I always stay on top of things, and I never let myself fall back.”
Erin Wiehe will be attending NKU, where she will study business administration and marketing. She said she also wants to attend cosmetology school so she can combine that trade education with her business and marketing education to open her own salon.
Mason Carter and Erin Wiehe will be the first two students with IEPs to leave Ignite with associate’s degrees.
This year’s Ignite graduating class has received about $11 million in merit-based scholarships to attend secondary education. The class also included several notable high school athletes, including Conner High School Football Captain Dylan Stewart, Ryle High School Football Captain Jack Gatlin, Boone High School Soccer Captain Parker Byland and Scott High School Basketball Captain Kia Peterson.
“I think what you’re starting to see with Ignite is our system works,” Gels said. “I think our system is good for the community, and, honestly, I think we’re at a point now where I can say our system is replicable.”
WCPO’s Sam Harasimowicz contributed reporting to this story.