Graduation’s special for evening school seniors
Students choose evening classes for assorted reasons, but diploma’s the goal
Evening High School gets a bad rap, said Kylie Leightener, a senior.
“A lot of people think kids that come to night school can’t control themselves or they get into trouble,” she said.
The students’ stories are more complex than that. They are parents and some have spent time in juvenile detention. Others fell behind in traditional school. Most want to graduate just as badly as their day school counterparts.
Public school graduations started last week in Anne Arundel County, where the majority of seniors graduate within four years. At 89.2%, the county has one of the highest graduation rates in the state.
That also means about 11% of kids don’t graduate with the students they entered ninth grade with.
About 115 students will graduate from evening school in the county this year. Amya Ritter, 19, is one of them.
She was on track to graduate last year but left day school at South River a few weeks before the ceremony. She didn’t take any of her final exams and flunked most of her classes.
“I was at a low point,” she said. “I let my mental illness take over me so I stopped coming to school. Day school is hectic for someone who deals with anxiety, especially if you don’t have friends.”
Ritter will graduate from Evening High School June 6.
“This whole year has been about healing, working hard and saving money,” she said.
Ritter attends night classes at South River High School. It’s one of six evening school locations in the county.
During the day, South River is bustling with students. It’s one of the county’s largest high schools, with 2,150 students under one roof.
But at 3:15 p.m. it transforms. The school’s hallways are virtually vacant by 4:30 p.m. and most classrooms are shuttered. Evening classes are dismissed at 7:45 p.m.
It’s an odd schedule, but one that works for Tatyanna Frye. The 19-year-old called evening school her “last chance.”
“I feel accomplished because I was supposed to graduate last year,” she said. “I just stopped coming to school last year, from March until June. I was just having fun.”
Since coming to evening school, Frye’s been able to refocus.
“My mom didn’t graduate,” Frye said. “I want to graduate for my son.” She has a two-year-old named Braylen.
Despite the sunset, the last day of evening school on Thursday looked much like the last day of traditional school — kids finishing last-minute assignments and discussing summer plans. One teacher played a movie for students.
The classes are small, at about 10 students each.
“We can actually work with them and form closer bonds with them,” said Roddy Jablonski, the lead administrator at South River evening school. “It’s the best setting you’ll ever be in because it’s the smallest. It’s like a private school.”
Jablonski said evening school provides students with a “no-frills” education. Students take back-to-back classes and their only break lasts 10 minutes.
Students at Evening High School need that structure, students say.
“You have your friends, you have everybody there. It’s easier to get in trouble,” Frye said about day school.
While Evening High School is a place for students to pick up where they left off, that’s not the case for everyone. Bernard Dixon, 17, is graduating right on time.
Night classes allowed the Annapolis resident to catch up.
“I didn’t invest in day school,” he said. He fell behind in his day school classes and started night school this semester to retake them.
Kelly Wang, 17, came for similar reasons. She’s looking forward to the day she finally walks across the stage and earns her diploma.
“If I didn’t come here, I would have failed,” she said.
Evening High School graduates will have their ceremony at Severna Park High School on June 6. Here is a list of remaining public school graduations:
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