Community of Support Breakfast and Mifflin High School
Please save the date for our
3rd Annual Community of Support Breakfast
Tuesday, May 15, 8:00am – 10:00am at the
OSU Fawcett Center, 2400 Olentangy River Road
The Community of Support Breakfast is more than just an annual fundraiser event, it is an opportunity to RAISE AWARENESS of the needs of students in Central Ohio and to PROMOTE COLLABORATION within our community to ensure that every student stays in school and achieves more in life.
The Program highlights include:
- Buffet Breakfast
- Networking
- Keynote Address
- Student Testimonials
- Video Presentation
Can’t make it that day? Sponsor another individual to attend this signature fundraising event! Invite your family and friends, neighbors and colleagues! Table and individual seats are available!
Spotlight Series: Mifflin High School
Mifflin High School significantly increases graduation rates!
Mifflin High School, in the 2015-2016 school year, had a graduation rate of around 58%. That school year, Communities In Schools and Site Coordinator Darren Carrington entered the school. The results were staggering; the graduation rate soared to 73% over three years! Darren attributes this success to working as a team and focusing on reaching to achieve their goals in the site plan.
Now, in his 4th year at Mifflin HS, Darren has taken over 500 students on college visits in Ohio to University of Cincinnati, University of Akron, Ohio Dominican University, Capital University, The Ohio State University, Wright State University, Columbus State, Central State, Otterbein University, and Columbus College of Art and Design. They have averaged 8-10 college visits per year giving the students the opportunity to be exposed to a different culture/climate, and gaining college and career prep experience.
Darren has created an incentive based College Visit program, in which eligible students must show good attendance, good grades, and no suspensions. It is working!
Attendance has increased to 86% from 72% over the past three years, and more kids are going to college upon graduation!!! 20 kids from Darren’s caseload have gone to college!
Additionally, Darren has taken advantage of the Columbus City Schools Office of Student Mentoring Initiatives (OSMI), a program that prioritizes mentoring resources and programs. In his time at Mifflin HS, Darren has added several mentoring services that were not there before.
The newest mentoring collaboration is with Doug Williams, former Ohio State Buckeye, who reached out to Darren to focus on freshman boys who have been identified as “at risk” due to maturity and behavioral issues. Mr. Williams meets with these boys on a bi-weekly basis and plans to continue working with these same students for all 4 years of high school.
In the beginning of this school year, a new non-profit, At the Table, brought their T.H.R.I.V.E. mentoring program to Mifflin and it quickly became their largest mentoring group, supporting 29 female students and focusing on empowering young women. For the past 2 years, many students have benefitted from the program offered by Starfish Alliance, which is a trauma informed mentoring group that also has a focus on entrepreneurship.
We are very excited about the impact Communities In Schools has had on attendance and graduation rates at South High School. Thank you so much for your continued support!
Amy Gordon, LSW
Executive Director
Communities In Schools of Central Ohio
