From dropout to graduate student: Why it’s important to share success stories

We love these sorts of stories.

Jennifer Brown dropped out of high school her freshman year, spent time in a group home and alternative school and spent the next several years working a bunch of dead-end jobs, alternating between her boyfriend's house and sleeping in her car.

She finally landed a job at a grocery store and, not long later, realized she loved keeping the store's books.

Four years later, Brown is a newly minted graduate of the University of Portland in Oregon, where she has received a bachelor's degree in business administration — and is on her way to the University of Southern California to pursue a graduate degree.

It's important to help at-risk students visualize their own success. But just as important is showing them that others have done the same. Stories like these are great tools for those on the front lines of the nation's dropout fight — and here at NoDropouts.org, we love sharing 'em.

Got one of your own? Contact us at editor@nodropouts.org.