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.

Marcus Moore, who rose above poverty as a child to follow his mother’s footsteps into educating the next generation, looked out at the crowd of soon-to-be graduates, eyes expectant and surrounded by beaming family and friends.

Surrounded by cheering family, friends and educators, more than 150 young people — the largest graduating class ever — celebrated the high school diplomas they worked so hard to earn at Clark County Acceleration Academies (CCAA).

Lowcountry Acceleration Academy (LAA) celebrated its biggest-ever class of graduates, learners who arrived from across South Carolina’s Lowcountry with one thing in common — a drive to earn the high school diplomas that will make their futures bright.

If graduation candidates at Miami-Dade Acceleration Academies (MDAA) are looking for a role model in developing a wide range of life skills, they need look no further than Erick Velis.

At Acceleration Academies across the nation, graduation candidates who identify as lesbian, gay, transgender, queer or otherwise non-binary find a calm and affirming place to learn. Educators celebrate them as individuals, and classmates form a welcoming community with a common goal — to become the...