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THE LIFE SKILLS CENTER OF CANTON GRADUATES 50 STUDENTS
Community-based charter high schools will grant state-certified High School Diplomas to 50 young men and women December 20, 2003
CANTON, OH - December 19, 2003 - White Hat Management (WHM) today announced that its Life Skills Center of Canton will hold its commencement ceremony this month to present 50 area students with state-certified high school diplomas.
The Life Skills Center of Canton will host its commencement at The Palace Theater (605 Market Ave., North) on Saturday, December 20, 2003 at 10 a.m. The evening will feature a keynote address by Derrick Pledger, president of Advanced Concepts. A reception will follow, and the public is invited to attend.
"Sometimes that first step is the hardest," Administrator of the Life Skills Center of Canton Albert Lewis said. "As we celebrate the success and hard work of our graduates let us not forget that life is a journey and this diploma is just the beginning of what can be for each of them. I invite our graduates to dream big dreams, set large goals and to pursue the things that are fulfilling and right for themselves and their families. I say to them, wherever the road of life takes you, your diploma is the key that opens the door to possibility after possibility, for graduation is not the end-- it is the launching pad for the rest of your life."
"Congratulations on your outstanding achievement," said Robert Townsend, president of the nonprofit board of Life Skills Center of Canton. "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 Canton'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 Canton school, tuition-free Life Skills Centers are also located in Akron, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, Elyria, Middletown, Springfield, Toledo, Warren and Youngstown, Ohio; 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