2021 The Five Star Focus

Vantage Point High School 2020-21 Discovery Cohort C students
KNOW EVERY STUDENT BY NAME, STRENGTH
AND NEED. Our staff lives out this ELEVATE goal in how
they support our students’ social-emotional well-being.
Nowhere is this more evident than at Vantage Point
High School; a school of choice which provides an alternative
education option for many. It’s a small school filled
with huge hearts.
Before students can even enroll in academic classes
at Vantage Point, they must first experience the school’s
9-week Discovery Program where they learn and master the
positive social skills necessary to be successful in school and
in life such as emotional intelligence, goal setting, conflict
resolution and problem solving.
Priestley Parker joined the Vantage Point family in 2001
as a counselor and started teaching Discovery 12 years ago.
“The first two or three days they’re a little skeptical about
it wondering if this program really means anything,” Priestley
said. “By the end of the program they feel changed. They feel
confident in themselves, that they can handle life’s difficulties
better than they were able to when they started.”
Vantage Point student Nayeli Castrejon recently finished
the Discovery Program.
“This program deserves the most recognition because it
really does change you for the best,” Nayeli said. “For me personally,
it helped me become more social. I grew friendships
with people I never would have talked to. We all started out
not talking to anyone except the friends some of us had, and
by the end we all were just one family.”
And that family proves critical to the students’ growth
and success. Many students face hardships, whether it be
socio-economic, family related or trauma such as the loss
of loved ones.
Priestley remembers a student who experienced the loss
of three friends and wasn’t doing well at school and at home.
“We do a lot of group work; we do a lot of getting to know
your classmates and learning about their lives,” Priestley
said. “And through that, he had other classmates who had
lost friends as well. He was able to make connections not
only with them but with the entire class. It helped him
“Hey you know that I believe in you.
Yes we’re going to work hard. Yes you
have to go through a lot. But yes you
can make it and you can be successful.”
realize, ‘Hey you know what, I went through these things
with losing my friends but I can still be successful.’”
The student is still at Vantage Point and thriving.
“His mom thanks us over and over again,” Priestley said.
“She said you created such great change in him. What we
say is he’s the one who made the change. Yes, we gave him
the avenue, or the vehicle to make that change, but he’s the
one who ultimately decided that he was going to make the
change and do better in his life.”
And while Priestley works most closely with students
when they first join the Vantage Point family, he also has the
opportunity to celebrate the end of their journey - graduation.
In May 2021, he had the honor of being the commencement
speaker at Vantage Point’s graduation ceremony.
“I love working with students that other people may have
given up on or maybe they’ve given up on themselves,”
Priestley said. “To be able to be one of many staff members
at Vantage Point to have a chance to inspire them and to let
them know, ‘Hey you know that I believe in you. Yes we’re
going to work hard. Yes you have to go through a lot. But yes
you can make it and you can be successful.’”
2020
CLASS OF
BY THE NUMBERS
3
15-24
3,400
Highest-ever graduation rate
at district alternative schools
Alternative schools
within the district
Students per class in our
alternative schools
Students have gone through
the Discovery Program
21 ADAMS 12 FIVE STAR SCHOOLS