Crossroads High School holds Winter Graduation

By BRITTANY FHOLER

Cove Leader-Press

CCISD's Crossroads High School held its Winter Commencement Ceremony Friday evening at Lea Ledger Auditorium, with 25 students graduating. 

A total of 23 students walked in Friday’s ceremony, with the other two having already moved away. 

Nearly all of the graduates were graduating early and ahead of their traditional cohorts, with some graduating during the same semester they transferred over, according to Crossroads High School Principal Patrick Crawley. 

“By the time they got to Crossroads, one of them I know had, I think, nine credits to finish and did it within a semester,” Crawley said. Nine credits in a year is the normal rate, he added. 

“They really busted themselves getting their work and getting it done,” Crawley said.  An average student at Crossroads will finish 20 or 30 assignments a day. Some of these kids were doing 250 a day.”

Crawley said the students tend to work whenever and wherever they can. 

“They were working at home. They were working on weekends. They’re working on holidays,” Crawley said. “It’s outstanding, and there’s a couple of them that are just very, very motivated.”

Crossroads High School offers a self-paced, non-traditional option for high school students. 

“A lot of the kids that we do get are the ones that are the square peg in the round hole,” Crawley said. “They’re not really interested in doing athletics, band, or after school activities or anything like that. They’re wanting to get done- math, science, English and history and get out and get a job, or get a job and get out. So, when it comes down to those kids, they’re just anxious to do what they need to do to get going.”

Crossroads High School offers a Co-Op program, starting this semester, where the students are paired with local employers and earn school credit for having a job. There are 10 students in the program currently, Crawley said. The students come to school in the morning and then leave for lunch before heading to their jobs. They earn three credit hours while working in the Co-Op program. 

“The kids that come to Crossroads- they’re not the bad kids,” Crawley said. “They’re not the discipline kids. It’s not the bad kids’ school. I think that’s a huge misnomer.” 

Crossroads holds three graduation commencement ceremonies per year now: one in August, one in May and one in January.

There are currently 113 students enrolled at Crossroads, but recent construction has expanded the capacity at the school up to 300 students. 

Alexavier Crawford, 18, walked the stage after his younger sister, Alivea. The two both attended Crossroads High School as a way to quickly earn the credits they needed to graduate high school. Alexavier spent about six months at Crossroads, while Alivea transferred after he did and finished in around two months. 

Alexavier completed his course work back in October but had to wait to walk until this month. 

“While I was there it was pretty easy. The teachers were easy to get along with. Everybody kind of just did their work, and some would goof off a little bit every now and then, but we were all just trying to graduate.”

The staff at Crossroads High School encouraged the students to put in the work and aim for that goal of graduating, he added. 

“It was kind of like they’re pushing you to graduate because everybody in there wants to get out there as soon as possible because that’s why you came there is to graduate early,” Alexavier said. 

Alexavier balanced a job with his schoolwork and plans to proceed in his job now that he has his high school diploma. 

“It was a great experience,” Alexavier said about attending Crossroads. “I’m glad I kind of switched schools. It was like a relief. Not stressful. I could pace myself as I needed not to do too much.”

Alivea said she liked being able to go at her own pace as well. She would put her headphones in and focus on her work and managed to finish all that was required within just a couple of months. Now that she has graduated, she plans to attend college to become a child psychologist, but she is still trying to determine which school to choose. 

The Winter 2021-2022 graduates include: 

Chastity Alvarado

Gabriel Blythe

Brilletta Calhoun

Alexavier Crawford 

Alivea Crawford

Jaden Dent

Kenneth Dubois

Alexandra Esmurria

Aaliyah Johnson

Marky Karl 

Bradley Kumtak 

Emily Marich 

David Mendez

Zechariah Mitchell

Jesse Nichols-Amidon

Hope Ostolaza

Aidan Rivera

Charisma Ruiz

Connor Sabala

Emily Timm

Eli Velez Cosme

Natalie Weible

Aiken Wesche

Christian Wilson

Da’laynna Young