Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Nonprofit specializes in helping Las Vegas students get back on track

Whitney Cole & Ashley Burney

Courtesy

Ashley Burney, right, a site coordinator for Communities In School Nevada, stands with Whitney Cole, a senior at Cimarron-Memorial High School.

When she arrived on the campus of Cimarron-Memorial High School for her junior year, Whitney Cole had a reputation for trouble.

She had been kicked out of Cheyenne High School and Cimarron once before for substance abuse. She had a short temper and often ditched classes. She wore a constant scowl.

But Whitney, 17, also was a student looking for guidance. Ever since her grandfather — who, with her grandmother, raised her from birth — passed away four years earlier, her life spiraled out of control. Her mother was a substance abuser, so she had only her grandmother for support.

They moved to Las Vegas from Mississippi after her grandfather's death so she could get a fresh start, but she fell in with a crowd of drug dealers and spent her time on the street numbing her emotional pain with drugs and alcohol.

Then she discovered Communities In School Nevada and met site coordinator Ashley Burney. It helped her turn her life around.

The nonprofit program’s goal is to help students like Cole through mentorship and resources.

“We focus on dropout prevention,” said Brittany McCoy, resource development director for the nonprofit. “We have site coordinators on each school campus who work to meet kids where they are and make sure any barriers they are facing are met and removed.”

Communities In School Nevada offers its services at 35 elementary and high schools in the Clark County School District and serves nearly 33,000 students statewide. Schools fund 30 to 50 percent of the program’s cost, and the rest is paid through grants and donations.

Site coordinators work to provide students with necessities such as food, eyeglasses and new backpacks to replace broken ones. But the coordinators also create a support system at-risk children can turn to for advice, guidance and love. They often become pseudo parents for some of the children, McCoy said.

At Cimarron, the program’s resource room is furnished with beanbag chairs, bookshelves and computers. It’s a place where students come to hang out or look for help from site coordinators Burney and Miranda Trobiani.

The program arrived at Cimarron two years ago. Cole had been identified as one of 400 at-risk students to learn about the program’s resources and become a candidate for its Academy class. The class is designed to help at-risk students regain credits, learn life skills, and prepare for college or a career.

Burney noticed Cole’s body language first. She sat slumped in her chair, eyes glazed over with apathy during their first meeting. Burney knew Cole’s reputation. Most students were deficient two or three credits. Cole was seven down and didn’t care.

“Really, her self confidence, her worthiness, her dedication, her willingness to keep going — it was not there,” Burney said. “I just said, ‘You know, this student right here, I don’t want to give up on her. … We’re going to work to get her back on track.’”

For the next six months, Burney became Cole’s sounding board, providing the support and guidance she was missing without her grandfather. Slowly, Cole began to trust her.

She started catching up on her credits through online classes, and where she once would turn to violence, she held her calm long enough for Burney to come and talk her down.

Then in March, Cole received a letter from Stanford University. She had been selected to attend a conference for prospective law students, a career she dreamed about.

It didn’t say who nominated her for the conference, but she knew. It was then that she trusted Burney completely.

“I know who nominated me,” Cole said. “That meant something to me.”

Now one year later, Cole has a different reputation — that of a model student. She not only caught up on her seven credits, but she went beyond it and is on track to graduate with an advanced degree and a 3.5 GPA. She thinks of Burney like a mother.

“She has just soared,” Burney said.

Cole never imagined she’d make it to her senior year, but now she’s finding herself playing point guard for the basketball team and looking to attend college. She even finds herself smiling from time to time.

“I am Communities In School,” Cole said. “I’m going to get that tattooed on me.”

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