Anthony Rodrigues, a Boston Day and Evening Academy graduate, spoke to the gathered crowd.

By Jeremy F. van der Heiden

Last Tuesday, July 1, 2014, Rediscovery, an offshoot of the Justice Resource Institute, honored 22 local students at the Boston Public Library ceremony for their resilience in the face of adversity. All of these students hail from Boston, Somerville, Malden and Everett High Schools, while each of them faced a range of challenges that would seemingly lead to dropouts and failure to graduate.

Homeless and unaccompanied minors often fall into the at-risk category in the public school system, as they are less likely to complete their coursework and move on to higher education facilities given the immense, everyday tribulation involved. However, these 22 homeless and unaccompanied students overcame the challenges to complete their high school careers successfully and give hope to others in their position.

For context, when Somerville’s Board of Aldermen held the budget hearing for the public school system, the most shocking aspect of Superintendent Tony Pierantozzi’s presentation appeared to be the rate of homelessness and poverty among students in the district. In fact, the figure was set at roughly 66 percent of the more than 4,900 students living beneath the poverty line in low-income households, and thus being considered as at-risk.

Despite the adversities that tend to appear in these types of living situations, Somerville achieved one of the highest graduation rates, lowest drop-out rates and exceptional performance on the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System test this past year. As such, most of students living below the poverty line graduated and have plans for higher education.

Taking this a step further, the 22 students honored by Rediscovery this past week faced even more challenging obstacles on the path toward graduation, but overcame their situations to excel at their respective schools.

Somerville High School participates in the YouthHarbors program that is operated by Rediscovery and serves unaccompanied and homeless high school students. Rediscovery explained that the statistics are stacked up against these students, with only a little more than one-quarter of them graduating each year.

The group also pointed out that there are roughly 6,000 homeless, unaccompanied high school students in the state, but that the YouthHarbors program has been highly successful since its inception a few years ago. This performance is marked by a 97 percent graduation rate among participating students, as well as a 94 percent rate of housing by the end of the year for these individuals.

Rediscovery will partner with high schools to provide more targeted and tailored services that are meant to help these students achieve their goals, fine safe living environments and move beyond the high school curriculum. Somerville High School is joined by Malden, Everett and Boston Day and Evening Academy in their use of the YouthHarbors program.

According to Rediscovery’s numbers, homeless and unaccompanied students who do not experience any form of intervention have a much lower chance of graduating, have a much higher risk of struggling with drug addiction or crime, and cost the state an average of $455,000 over their lifetime. Suffice it to say that this program’s success has been welcomed by a broad range of officials, community members and more.

Although Somerville has only been participating in this program for one full year, the system has long since supported homeless and unaccompanied students through a variety of internal programs, and has a dedicated Liaison for Homeless Children and Youth that serves the entire district.

Somerville will continue to participate in the YouthHarbors program, and many hope that this involvement will yield even more positive outcomes in the coming years.