Kennedy: Ridgeland High School's educational success story

Tylis Green
Tylis Green
photo Mark Kennedy

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Eighteen-year-old Tylis Green changed elementary schools five times in five years, often hopscotching across state lines in the process.

Sometimes he was enrolled at inner-city schools in Tennessee. Other years he was the only black kid at schools in rural Georgia - places, he remembers, where the other kids wanted to "touch my hair."

For most kids, that lack of permanency might have resulted in a shaky educational foundation. But not for Tylis. Instead, it taught him resilience and the indispensable art of "fitting in."

Watching him walk the halls at Ridgeland High School these days in Walker County, Ga., you almost forget Tylis is a student. Actually, a new teacher recently introduced herself to him by her first name, assuming Tylis was a member of the instructional staff.

It's the way Tylis carries himself. He's personable, confident and serious, with the chin-up bearing of an emerging leader.

The day we met he had just come from a local hospital, where his mother had given birth to his new baby sister. He admitted he was feeling the weight of responsibility of holding things together at home.

For his senior project, Tylis is heading up the school's character education program. He regularly participates in the morning announcements with an inspirational quote or a pep talk to his classmates.

Last week, officials at Ridgeland contacted the Times Free Press to tout progress in boosting the graduation rate there. In 2013, the graduation rate at Ridgeland was 65 percent and in 2016 the unofficial number is 89 percent, an impressive leap for a school where about 72 percent of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches.

Administrators credit a schoolwide focus on goal setting, career training and mentorship with sparking the turnaround.

"Teachers are surrounding kids with motivation," says Glen Brown, Ridgeland's principal. "The idea is to help you find your place in the world, to help you find something you love."

At Ridgeland, they have a program called CTAE, for Career, Technical and Agricultural Education. In addition to their core academic classes, students must choose one of several "career clusters" for special focus throughout high school.

"The aim of the program is to show students the relevance of what they're learning in the classroom, whether they want to attend a two-year college, a four-year university or go straight into the world of work," according to a description of the CTAE program on the Georgia Department of Education website. Almost 95 percent of Georgia students who complete a CTAE program go on to graduate high school.

Tylis says the program is working for him. He has completed three classes in video production and become the go-to person when a Ridgeland teacher needs help with video gear. He already has a résumé, and he has talked to a local television station about pursuing an internship.

Since he was a small child, Tylis has felt drawn to technology. When he was in third grade he took apart one of his talking action figures and repaired a bad wire. Later, he graduated to working on his family's TV.

These days he shoots and edits football highlight videos and helps manage the video equipment in the school library.

"I call myself a photographer. I like to capture the beauty in people you don't always see with your eyes," Tylis says.

The beauty of Ridgeland's graduation-rate success story is that you CAN see it with your eyes.

Success there is self-perpetuating, and the momentum is unmistakable.

Contact Mark Kennedy at mkennedy@timesfreepress.com or 423-645-8937.

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