When asked in focus groups what advice they’d give to other students who are entering Alternative Education, the resounding theme to student response was to “just show up.”

Responses included a range of hopeful and encouraging messages, including:

“It is a safe place to come.”

“It gives me a sense of hope.”

“Just try it, even if you don’t feel like it.”

“It was scary for me...and it changed my life.”

A school leader adds to this idea, bringing in the concept of belonging:

“...[W]e follow them every day for their attendance and they know that they're expected at school. I think that helps with belonging too, because the more you come, the more you belong. If you're not here enough, you don't develop ... that sense of sisterhood. But if you keep coming... you will have a sense of belonging just because you've been here enough.”