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THE LIFE SKILLS CENTER OF SPRINGFIELD GRADUATES 23 STUDENTS
Community-based charter high school will grant state-certified High School Diplomas to 23 young men and women December 18, 2003
SPRINGFIELD, OH - December 17, 2003 - White Hat Management (WHM) today announced that its Life Skills Center of Springfield will hold commencement ceremonies this month to present 23 area students with state-certified high school diplomas.
The Life Skills Center of Springfield will host its commencement at the Holiday Inn South on Thursday, December 18 at 7:00 p.m. The evening will feature a keynote address by Mark Cowan, vice president of Stanley Electric. A special guest reception following the graduation will be held, and the public is invited to attend.
"Many of our students have been told that they would never graduate from high school," Administrator of the Life Skills of Springfield Edward Haskins said. "However, they have proven that they have a new strength - a belief in themselves regardless of the doubts of others. They have proven to the nonbelievers, but more importantly to themselves, that they have what it takes to be successful. With their newfound strength and belief, they realize that this is not the end, but instead, it's the beginning of a productive and successful life."
"Congratulations on your outstanding achievement," said Robert Townsend, president of the nonprofit board of Life Skills Center of Springfield. "We hope this will be the beginning of your educational experience, as you continue to expand your opportunities for advancement and a better life."
The Life Skills Center of Springfield's winter graduates join students from Life Skills Centers nationwide who will graduate with their high school diplomas this December. They will join the over 2,800 students who have graduated since the first LSC was founded in 1999. In addition to the Springfield school, tuition-free Life Skills Centers are also located in Akron, Canton, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Elyria, Middletown, Toledo, Warren and Youngstown, Ohio; and in Phoenix, Arizona and Denver, Colorado. They serve more than 7,500 students.
WHM's Life Skills Centers are proving to be one of the nation's most successful programs for helping high school dropouts or at-risk students earn a high school degree...not a GED. The program features a proprietary curriculum that combines academics, life skills preparation and workplace training. Much of the instruction is computer-based, with state-certified teachers acting as facilitators to help students learn at their own pace. Life Skills Centers do not assign grade levels to students. Upon enrollment, each student receives an Individualized Academic and Career Plan, which guides him or her through the curriculum and toward the diploma. The schools provide a safe, secure, positive learning environment.
Akron-based White Hat Management, LLC, is Ohio's largest operator of charter schools and ranks among the premier full-service Educational Management Organizations (EMOs) in the United States dedicated to educating K-12 students. The company, which was founded in 1998 by Akron, Ohio industrialist and education activist David Brennan, operates three types of schools: Life Skills Centers; HOPE Academies, which are community-based charter public schools for kindergarten through eighth grade; and OHDELA Academy, which provides distance learning resources for home schooling. White Hat Management, on behalf of the non-profit boards it serves, currently operates 32 schools, which employ over 1,300 people, educating and supporting nearly 15,000 students.
For more information, visit www.whitehatmgmt.com