It’s little wonder that “second-semester senior” has become a dirty word in some circles.  But hope shouldn’t be given up just yet.

Coming Home

When most seniors would appreciate a free Tuesday morning by sleeping in, senior Grace Cohen treats it like any other school day.  In fact, she will often get up far before many of her peers.  After all, she has to get to work around 7:30.  It gives her that extra time to set up for the children.

Each week, Cohen works as a Kindergarten aide and as an art assistant at Captain Elementary School, using up what would have been free time from first to fourth period.  Her job descriptions include pencil sharpening, playing games, and setting up art projects.  The students call her Miss Grace, and she is perfectly happy.

“It’s a good place for her to be,” said Jan Wilson, a Captain Kindergarten teacher whom Cohen helps. “We’re a small community, like all the other elementary schools, and it’s a comfortable place to hang out and feel like you’re really contributing.”

That sense of contribution was one of the main reasons that Cohen decided to spend her spare time volunteering.

“I was thinking about it, and, having all this free time as a senior, I knew that I wanted to do something interesting and really use the time wisely. Going to Captain was really a wonderful experience for me. The teachers helped build me into who I am today, and they were always an inspiration to me.

Those inspiring teachers are certainly thankful for Cohen’s help now. For Wilson, the extra person in the room is invaluable, especially with six-year-olds.

“In Kindergarten, you can’t have enough hands and ear and bodies at each table, so it’s a tremendous help.”

A little extra sleep now and then may have been warranted but, for Cohen, the reward far exceeds what she might have given up.

“There have been times where I’ve been really tempted to sleep in and to just go in later, but when I think about it, and the reward I’m getting from it, I’m really glad that I’m doing this. It gives me something to wake up to in the morning.”

Making a Mark

Extra time spent on schoolwork is rarely a welcomed task, especially for any senior already in the throes of long-term procrastination.  For Margaret Mulligan, however, that extra time spent helps her make sure that Kyle and LaPortia succeed.  She’s just doing what any good tutor would do.

Since its inception in the fall semester, Mulligan has acted as the point person for the CHS branch of the Urban Future initiative, a system that selects students to tutor inner-city youth. Already highly involved in community service, Mulligan used her passion for helping others as a springboard for getting out the word.

She credits the inspiration for the project to CHS English teacher Adam Hayward, whose stories of teaching similar students got her thinking about helping out.

“Margaret and I were talking a little bit about my background, and, knowing how passionate she had been about community service, I suggested trying to make some sort of connection with the inner-city schools,” he said.  “With all the resources and the great kids that this school has, I think that there could really be a positive impact.”

The differences between school districts can make quite an impact in comparison, which is why the positive reinforcement of the tutoring is so vital.

“That’s the help – believing and enforcing that they’re going to go to college, and that these are the tools for getting them there,” Mulligan said.

The stress is, of course, on passion and connection, not necessarily on making it all look good.  That isn’t the goal for Mulligan.

“This isn’t something that you do for resume building,” she said. “It’s easy to go in and say, ‘I tutored this kid for four years,’ and have it look good on your resume, but you may not know them at all.  We’re really trying to build a connection here.”

That connection ties in with the passion of the work, a deciding factor in choosing to tutor in the first place.  As fellow tutor, senior Carmen Ribaudo said, having free time doesn’t necessarily mean that senioritis will set in.  Instead, a shift in priorities comes about.

“All this free time doesn’t mean that I’m goofing off,” she said. “It’s just given me more time to spend on the things that I’m passionate about. 

Exploring Business

And what of life beyond the close-knit walls of Clayton?  What happens to those who leave her buildings, never to return?  For the handful that decides to graduate early, the sudden freedom can be daunting but also an opportunity to do more.  Just ask Nia Charrington: she runs her own consulting business.

However, before getting into the business world, Charrington first had to leave the high school world, a decision she describes as “spur of the moment,” seeing as it came a mere two weeks before winter break.

“I was sitting in Personal Finance thinking that I really disliked this class.  And I had my transcript in my bag, along with the graduation requirements, and thought, ‘Oh yeah, I’m done.’”

After weathering some attempts to dissuade her from her chosen course, Charrington found herself on the other side of the void, ready to dive into whatever she pleased, which was initially far from consulting work.

“Originally, the plan was that I would do something related to what my major would be, biomedical engineering,” she said. “But on the side, I was also interested in the types of things that my dad does with computer science.”

That interest snowballed into a business plan once the biomedical work was put on hold, and Charrington now fills her days with tweets and website plans.  She runs a consulting business that works with local businesses from a marketing standpoint, focusing on “social media marketing, website maintenance, and kind of whatever will get their name out in the public.”

The real thrill of her work comes from the hold that social media holds over the corporate sector in relation to the rest of the world.  With that kind of power, businesses can be made or broken with a few clicks of the mouse.

“What I really like is seeing the kind of impact that social media can have on a business,” Charrington said. “The use is so dynamic, coming from every different direction, and I feel that you can get more impact by using that.”

With the rest of her time, Charrington takes a class at Forest Park Community College and keeps up her friends who still reside within the domains of high school.  She describes the change from high school as interesting and new, though not necessarily better.

“I would hesitate to say that it’s a better use of my time.  It’s different.  I guess I would say that the big change is that I’m more excited about it.”

As for all you local businesses out there: consider Charrington open for business, at least until she heads off to college in the fall.