Acceleration Academies of Ector County hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday featuring Ector County ISD Superintendent Scott Muri, along with Acceleration Academies educators and students who spoke from their own experience.
The academy is located in the Prosperity Bank building, 620 N. Grant Ave., on the sixth floor.
“Our goal is that every ECISD student graduates from high school, ready to take the next step in their life’s journey,” Muri said in a news release. “This partnership with Acceleration Academies is powerful because it helps us re-engage with students who have already dropped out, and it gives them the support and flexibility they need to get back in school and be successful.”
Ector County students are finding success through the flexible, personalized approach provided by an agreement between ECISD and Acceleration Academies, the release said.
One of those young learners is Alexis Lagrone, a teen mom with a 1-year-old son. Traditional school didn’t work for her for a variety of reasons, including the difficulty she had balancing a normal school schedule with her other responsibilities.
“I had a job, I had school and I had a baby,” she said in the release. “It was overwhelming.”
At EAA, she found quiet learning spaces, a schedule flexible enough to work around her other responsibilities, and ample support for her both as a student and a young mom thanks to the collaboration between EAA educators and ECISD’s Teen Parent Related Services program. At the end of May, she completed her coursework and earned the right to graduate and pursue her dream of becoming a nurse. “Transferring to Ector Acceleration Academies has been the biggest blessing,” she said.
“We are so proud of all that Alexis has accomplished,” said EAA Director Virginia Hunt, a South Texas native and veteran educator. “We are looking forward to other students joining her at our new campus. We are so grateful for the support of Dr. Muri, Assistant Superintendent Alicia Syverson and their colleagues in helping to make these young people’s dreams a reality.”
The Ector academy is part of a growing nationwide network of Acceleration Academies, which meet the needs of students who have struggled in traditional schools for a variety of reasons, including the need to work full-time or care for young children; the need for more one-on-one attention; or a desire to accelerate their studies in order to graduate early and move forward with plans for college, military service, work or athletic careers.
Like all public school programs, EAA is free of charge and open to students up to age 21 who want to earn their high school diplomas.
