Staying OnPoint

Recovering from failing freshman geometry has been an uphill climb for Chris Brown.

When he retook the class in 10th grade, he missed a core sophomore math class. Now in his senior year at Hixson High School, he's not able to take all the college prep courses he'd like to, because he's behind.

"Something I did my ninth-grade year is still biting me," he said.

So, to keep other young high schoolers from making similar mistakes, Brown, 17, wrote a grant request and recently was awarded $10,000 to pay for programs to keep students from dropping out. The My Idea grant is one of 36 across the nation funded by America's Promise Alliance and AT&T.

Brown, along with other members of the teen board of OnPoint, a local nonprofit organization that promotes healthy choices, decided the best way to improve a graduation rate was to target students in ninth and 10th grades, before it's too late.

"Usually ... if you fail those years, you're messed up," he said. "It's a chain, and we have to stop it."

Brown's efforts, called "Don't Wait, Don't Hate, Participate, Graduate!" will focus on a graduation summit for underclassmen this winter, as well as peer mentoring all year at five local high schools.

OnPoint staff said the graduation summit is meant to enhance the event Hamilton County Schools held last year. That program targeted educators and community members, but the teen board would bring in events for students, said Shannon Mathews, OnPoint's development director who helped Brown and the other students write their grant.

Brown said he believes the peer mentoring will be especially helpful.

"We want to give out information telling them things you should and shouldn't do, what high school is like," he said. "When your peers speak, you listen."

Whitney Graham, another Hixson High senior on the teen board, said she looked forward to talking with the freshmen.

"When I was a freshman, we didn't have as much interaction with the upperclassmen. We're trying to have more ways for them to talk with us, to tell them our side of the story."

Online: Contact Kelli Gauthier at kgauthier@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/gauthierkelli.

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