July 18, 2024 | Jeffrey Good
It wasn’t easy for Chad Dawson to make it through high school. Raised in an isolated evangelical community in Alabama, he escaped to Florida as a high school junior only to be told by school officials that he had the academic skills of a 5th grader.
Just as Chad started to make up lost ground at Treasure Coast High, he fell in with a fast crowd and started making bad choices.
“I made honor roll one time and I thought, hey, I was the stuff,” Chad said nearly a decade later. “I lost my way.”
Somehow, he finished the required coursework. But a hurdle remained: the standardized English test Florida requires to earn a full high school diploma. In the testing room, Chad’s learning deficits came back — and he could not seem to pass.
“I was scared. I didn’t know what to do,” Chad recalled. “I reached out to one of my old guidance counselors. I was crying.” The counselor told him about a program where he could get intensive, one-on-one academic coaching, free of charge.
Finding a New Way
When Chad walked into St. Lucie Acceleration Academies (SLAA), he could tell he had arrived at a different kind of school. There were no rows of desks and packed classrooms. No distracting social dynamic.
There was however, a team of educators who had his back. “When I went in, all the teachers were very welcoming,” he said. “They just were there for you.”
With their support, Chad applied himself to the task of carefully reading passages and answering questions in a thoughtful, nuanced way. One day, his phone rang. It was one of his academic coaches at SLAA.
“ ‘Chad, I’ve got news for you,’ ” Miss Mary said. “You passed the state reading test.’ ”
“I remember it like it was yesterday,” Chad said. “I finally did it. I felt like I was at the top of the world.”
College Grad
Today, Chad’s story is one of success. After earning his diploma in 2017, he enrolled at Indian River State College and majored in criminal justice. Sponsored by the Martin County Sheriff’s Office, he attended police academy and was sworn in as a deputy sheriff.
His journey has not been without its challenges. He attended school part-time so he could work to support himself and his family, including his baby boy, Chad Jr., who was born in 2021. In 2023, he earned his associate’s degree from Indian River State.
“When I walked across the stage and heard my family cheer for me, when I picked up my son,” he said. “It was an amazing experience, knowing where I had come from — I was an official college graduate!”
Realizing a Dream
Chad’s parents had raised him in a strict religious environment, part of a commune headed by a pastor who’s been dogged by allegations of abuse, mismanagement and failing to properly educate the children in his flock.
“It was a cult,” said Chad. “You’re pretty much told that you’ll never be anything — if you leave here, you’ll end up in prison or you’ll end up dead.”
When his older sister invited him to live with her in Florida, Chad saw a chance to prove them wrong. When he flunked the state test, the old insecurities came flooding back. And while some might take the route of earning a GED, that wasn’t enough for Chad.
“I never wanted to get my GED,” he said. “I wanted my high school diploma.”
If not for St. Lucie Acceleration Academies and its team of caring educators, he might not have realized that goal — or built the life he has today.
“I didn’t get a lot of help until I got to Acceleration Academies,” Chad said. “It was so important, knowing that I had teachers who were there for me. They weren’t just there for the paycheck.”