If they could find a job at all, most 15-year-olds would use the cash to buy snacks, video games or tickets to a concert — or maybe save toward their first car.

When many young learners arrive at Gwinnett County Acceleration Academies (GCAA), they find a school leader who knows their challenges first-hand.

Lee County Acceleration Academies (LCAA) celebrated its first group of graduates recently, as young men and women who might have otherwise given up on high school received the diplomas they had worked so hard to earn.

When Roberto Hilarion and his sister were younger, their parents moved from Cuba to Miami in hopes of building a better life for their children.

Selena Farlow and Jesus Ortiz didn’t plan on becoming parents as high school seniors. But once it became clear that they would, they needed a school where they could not only earn their diplomas but also take good care of their baby boy, Damian.

Just two short years ago, Lowcountry Acceleration Academy alumna Carolina Dominguez Lopez wasn’t sure she’d ever finish high school. Mired in depression, overwhelmed by the crowded classrooms and harsh social dynamic of her old high school, she felt little but despair.

At his old school, Christian Gentele was a standout football player and popular kid. But an excess of extracurriculars and a lack of discipline in his coursework made him fall further and further behind.

To Jennifer Rosario-Perez, “mathletes” and athletes have a lot in common. Just like training for success on the football field or the soccer pitch, it can be hard work to learn the moves of algebra and geometry and perform them under pressure.

Kennede Thomas had always been a strong student. She remembers with pride earning a place in honors geometry at her old high school. But when the Covid pandemic shuttered schools during her freshman year, everything changed.