EARNING CAPS, GOWNS WITH ANGELS' HELP.Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY Dennis McCarthy may refer to:
Wearing their caps and gowns, the 550 students in the Class of 2005 at City of Angels School filed Wednesday into the Los Angeles Convention Center The Los Angeles Convention Center (abbreviated LACC) is a convention center in downtown Los Angeles. The LACC hosts annual events such as the Greater Los Angeles Auto Show, and was best known to video games fans as host to E3 until its cessation in 2006. - where they met one another for the very first time. While they technically have been classmates Classmates can refer to either:
The only thing these graduates had in common was a hard-earned degree from a high school without classrooms, a cafeteria, gym, auditorium or any of the facilities a traditional campus has. Instead, their classrooms have been 45 storefronts scattered throughout the Los Angeles Unified School District The Los Angeles Unified School District (the "LAUSD") is the largest (in terms of number of students) public school system in California and the second-largest in the United States. Only the New York City Department of Education has a larger student population. . Many of these kids, like Elisa Estrada - who attended City of Angels' Northridge site on Reseda Boulevard - suffered from illnesses that made it impossible to attend other high schools. Others had to care for babies or sick parents, or had childhood acting or dancing careers that took them away from school for weeks at a time. Many others just couldn't cope with the structured setting of a traditional high school. City of Angels was their last chance, and they had taken it. For one hour a week they met with teachers like Alba MacDonald. They got one-on-one instruction and class assignments to complete at home. When you're working so closely with a student, you get to know a lot more about them than just test scores and learning abilities, says MacDonald, who has been at City of Angels for nine years. ``We learn about their lives and what makes them tick. You find yourself caring very deeply about each student,'' MacDonald says. ``Just having the chance to do that makes our school so special and unique.'' It's why it earned the name City of Angels more than 15 years ago, when two teachers founded the home-school home·school or home-school v. home·schooled, home·school·ing, home·schools v.tr. To instruct (a pupil, for example) in an educational program outside of established schools, especially in the home. program to help teenage mothers get their high school diplomas A high school diploma is a diploma awarded for the completion of high school. In the United States and Canada, it is considered the minimum education required for government jobs and higher education. An equivalent is the GED. . ``All the teachers thought they had died and gone to heaven,'' says Joan D'Amore, assistant principal of all 42 City of Angels sites. ``The students, too.'' Elisa Estrada hadn't died and gone to heaven, but City of Angels did rescue her future, Lisa and John Estrada said while helping their daughter with her cap and gown. If you want to know why this home-school program is so important to thousands of kids in this city, Elisa Estrada is the answer. High school graduation Wednesday was a day that no one in her family thought would come for this 18-year-old girl, who'd been diagnosed with bipolar disorder bipolar disorder, formerly manic-depressive disorder or manic-depression, severe mental disorder involving manic episodes that are usually accompanied by episodes of depression. , a mental disorder mental disorder Any illness with a psychological origin, manifested either in symptoms of emotional distress or in abnormal behaviour. Most mental disorders can be broadly classified as either psychoses or neuroses (see neurosis; psychosis). Psychoses (e.g. with extreme mood swings. Even though she was earning good grades in honors classes at Birmingham High School Birmingham High School is a public coeducational high school in the neighborhood/district of Lake Balboa in the San Fernando Valley section of the city of Los Angeles, California. The school is a part of District One of the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). , Elisa had to drop out to be hospitalized and treated for her illness, her mom says. She never gave up, says her dad, a youth relations adviser in the LAUSD's crime-prevention unit. Whenever he runs into a kid threatening to drop out of high school, he talks to them about his daughter. ``I tell them I know what they're going through, but don't give up. There is help out there, a way you can still get your degree. It's called City of Angels.'' Three times in six years his daughter tried to return to Birmingham High, but couldn't handle the stress. Three times, City of Angels welcomed her back. ``All the pressure of attending different classes and being around all my peers got me so easily distracted and disoriented dis·o·ri·ent tr.v. dis·o·ri·ent·ed, dis·o·ri·ent·ing, dis·o·ri·ents To cause (a person, for example) to experience disorientation. Adj. 1. ,'' Elisa says. ``One-on-one with Mrs. MacDonald was so much better.'' It was so much better for all of the girls in the snapshots that MacDonald has taped to the door of her Northridge storefront schoolhouse, located between the offices of a chiropractor chiropractor a practitioner in chiropractic. chiropractor A health professional trained in chiropractic; chiropractors do not perform surgery or prescribe drugs; of 50,000 licensed chiropractors in the US, many practice 'straight' chiropractic, ie and a skin-care consultant. Most of the girls in the pictures are dressed in caps and gowns, holding a baby in one arm, a diploma in the other hand. A few of them are now nurses, MacDonald says. A few more are in college studying to get their teaching credentials. All of them write the same thing on the back of the baby pictures they send every year to the only high school teacher they ever had at City of Angels: Thank you for being there. On Wednesday - graduation day Graduation Day refers to:
Pierce College offers associate's degrees, mainly in the arts and sciences. There are also certificate programs in early childhood education, social services, dental hygienist, and others. with dreams of becoming an actress and dancer. Proudly holding her high school diploma from City of Angels. Dennis McCarthy, (818) 713-3749 dennis.mccarthy(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Recent City of Angels alumna Elisa Estrada, in graduation garb, stands with instructor Alba MacDonald, left, and her parents, Lisa and John. Evan Yee/Staff Photographer |
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