At alternative school, graduation marks end of long road
CONROE — It would have been so easy to surrender to the defeats and disappointments and walk away from school. The girls confronting unexpected pregnancies, the boys treading water in classes, the students falling so far behind that graduation seemed to recede into the horizon.
Any of them could have become just another digit in the latest dropout count.
Instead, they clambered back and worked their way to Conroe ISD’s Hauke Alternative School, which takes its symbol from the phoenix, the mythical firebird that rises from its ashes to be born anew.
On Thursday, 65 Hauke students who once teetered on the brink of failure will march across a stage to receive their high school diplomas – a moment many thought they would never reach.
“In other schools, I was dead. I didn’t think there was any chance of me becoming something in the future,” said senior Caleb Beuk, 19. “Now, with me getting to the point I am today, I have risen out of the ashes.”
A self-described country boy who grew up keeping snakes and possums as pets, Beuk felt lost and out of place at Conroe High School, which has more than 3,000 students.
“I have a feeling I might have dropped out if I stayed at Conroe High,” said Beuk, who plans to enlist in the Navy. “There were too many people, too big of a crowd.”
So, for a year and a half, Beuk worked on cutting down absences and bringing up grades so he could get into Hauke, which accepts students through an application process. He was accepted in January 2010.
Although Hauke, which has an enrollment of about 140 in grades 8-12, is designed for at-risk students, it admits only students who are determined to succeed, said principal Jo Ann Beken.
“We teach them self-efficiency: If you believe you can and you work hard, you’re going to get where you want to be,” said Beken.