First post at the beginning of the school year

Anthony is 20 and has lived Roxbury, MA his whole life. He lives with his parents who both graduated from high school and attended some college.

Anthony did well academically until middle school when he started skipping school to hang out with friends. As a result, his grades fell and he repeated 7th grade. His attendance continued to be an issue. After his best friend was murdered, he dropped out. Over the next several years, Anthony attempted to re-engage in district and alternative schools as well as a GED program. In each case, he left after a few weeks. In September 2008, with the assistance of Project Reconnect, a Boston-area outreach and recovery program, Anthony enrolled in the Boston Adult Technical Academy (BATA), an accelerated high school for older and struggling students with a focus on credit recovery.

As of this first posting, Anthony has been out of school a total of three years. He is technically a junior and needs to pass 13 classes as well as the math and English MCAS in order to graduate. His goal is to graduate this year.