Last school year, we had a young man with Asperger’s syndrome.  When I say young, he was 17.  His mother’s biggest fear was that he wouldn’t ever graduate high school. She was a teacher; but her son had struggled his whole life in public school. The following is her letter to our BOE (names have been changed):

My name is Brenda Everett, and I am a teacher and single mother of four. As a teacher, my children’s education has always been of the highest priority. However, after my divorce, my children suffered educational setbacks. None greater than my oldest, Jeff, who is on the spectrum. Before, Jeff was an eager learner, a self-starter, always looking for information on his own and achieving good grades in school. However, after our family changed, Jeff fell into a deep depression. He was suffering daily anxiety attacks and completely stopped applying himself in school…even being kicked out of Epic Charter School for inactivity. I was truly unsure if I would ever see the day that Jeff would graduate high school. That is until we discovered the Empower program. The people who worked with Jeff ignited in him a renewed sense of direction and purpose. He learned that though he faced challenges along the way, he still had the ability to correct the ship and find his path. He is now a high school graduate looking to start in a cosmetology program very soon. He has goals and aspirations and is looking forward to the future. All of this is because we found the Empower program and encountered all the passionate people there who are dedicated to helping young people find their path. As an educator, I have often encouraged the young people I meet in similar situations as Jeff to look into the Empower program. My hope is that it will continue to have the positive, life-changing impact on others that it has had on my son and our family. Thank you, Brenda Everett