The recent commencement ceremony for Miami-Dade Acceleration Academies (MDAA) turned out to be very much a family affair.

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.

St. Lucie Acceleration Academies (SLAA) celebrated its latest class of graduates at a ceremony in which Acceleration Academies CEO Kelli Campbell and others applauded the young people who had pushed through challenges to earn their diplomas and launch their adult lives.

Amya Marston found the best way to celebrate her 18th birthday — by joining the Class of 2024. Amya says she couldn’t have done it without St. Lucie Acceleration Academies (SLAA).

Edgar Castaneda is a gifted student who found it frustrating to constantly wait for other students to catch up with him in classes at his former high school.

Struggling with family issues and his own mental health, Alex Parker missed a lot of school during his sophomore and junior years. Entering senior year at his former, traditional, high school, he faced the possibility of not being able to graduate on time.

Nayka Jean has big dreams: enlisting in the army, becoming a nurse, helping to build a hospital in her home country of Haiti, opening a club in the United States where people can forget about their cares.

Addressing the graduates of the Sarasota Acceleration Academies Class of 2024 at their recent commencement celebration, academy director Michelle Llinas reflected on Robert Frost’s most famous poem.

Kaylee Holt had always been a strong student, earning As and Bs and making steady progress toward her high school diploma and college education beyond. But then she began algebra and, suddenly, all those plans seemed in question.