by Whitney Hicks, Communications & Events Manager
Homeless students face barriers to education that students with a stable place to live, sleep, and play often do not. Getting to class, sleeping throughout the night without interruptions, doing homework – all of these things become very difficult when families do not have a place to live. So, it’s particularly significant when, despite these barriers, students who experience homelessness excel in school and graduate.
Earlier this year Community of Hope (COH) learned that some DC public and charter schools bundled graduation fees, requiring high school seniors to pay upwards of $250 in order to participate in the graduation ceremony. Many of these schools had no options for students to pay for the cap and gown separate from yearbooks, school rings, and other senior fees. These bundled graduation fees would have prevented some high school seniors in COH’s housing programs from participating in graduation ceremonies.
Luckily, COH was able to use funds from the Gallup Organization to help our students pay the fees and participate in the ceremony. One of these graduating seniors, Tynell, says, “I would have been upset and my aunt would have been upset if I didn’t walk at graduation. Even though getting my diploma is the most important thing, it was important for my family to see me walk across the stage since I’m the first person in my family to graduate.”
In addition to helping students in our programs, COH brought these fees to the attention of the DC Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE). OSSE acted swiftly to reach out to DC public and charter schools with guidance on how to best address the financial barriers to homeless students participating in graduation. OSSE is confident that next year the schools will be more conscientious about addressing this barrier now that they are aware of the problem.
Thanks to the hard work of COH’s staff, funders, and partners in the DC government, we were able to help students in COH’s program and throughout the District participate in an important rite of passage: their graduation ceremony. We congratulate these students on this achievement and wish them the best for the future.
