For nine years, at-risk students who disengaged from high school have found a new home and purpose at St. Paul’s Gateway to College, and next week’s graduating class of about 80 students could be its largest.
It also will be the last to be based at St. Paul College.
The college, citing a “consistent decline” in Gateway students successfully completing courses that award them post-secondary credits, said in March that it was ending its partnership with St. Paul Public Schools. The decision will force the district to shift programming to one of its own buildings — at least for the 2024-25 school year.
That leaves students without the inspiration that an on-campus presence can bring. Consider, too, that many kids had been turned off initially by a more traditional school environment.
“It’s definitely going to be a harder conversation,” Gateway counselor Jessie Hass said of maintaining current enrollment levels. “It was such a draw for students to be in a new setting.”
Gateway is part of a national network that gives high school dropouts and at-risk students help earning diplomas — and college credits. Counselors like Hass have played vital roles through one-on-one advising and check-in opportunities that recent students credit with helping keep them on track.
The program launched in 2015-16 with 51 students, including 13 who were taking college-level courses.
But precisely what went wrong recently — at least from the college’s point of view — is not clear.