Congratulations to Drs. Michael Scheel and Gina Kunz on their recent award from the Woods Charitable Fund to support the “Building Bridges through Relationships” high school dropout prevention program. The prevention program offers at-risk students a fresh start in high school with support to reverse trends that would eventually lead to dropping out of high school.
Dr. Scheel and his students work closely with school counselors at each school to provide collaborative and integrated services to the students. The program is designed to support increases in student psychological engagement to school, resulting in progress toward graduation for students transitioning from middle school to high school identified as at risk for dropping out. Under Dr. Scheel’s direction, this program has been implemented in Lincoln Northeast High School for the past four years. With additional funding from the Woods Charitable Fund, this program will continue at Lincoln Northeast, be extended to North Star High School, and provide pilot data to inform a larger study in the future.