{"id":36786,"date":"2023-01-31T04:38:42","date_gmt":"2023-01-31T04:38:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/?p=36786"},"modified":"2023-01-31T04:38:42","modified_gmt":"2023-01-31T04:38:42","slug":"newberry-high-school-celebrates-high-graduation-rate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/31\/newberry-high-school-celebrates-high-graduation-rate\/","title":{"rendered":"Newberry High School celebrates high graduation rate"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> [ad_1]<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"p1\">On May 27, 2022, soon-to-be Newberry High School graduates lined the Exactech Arena as they waited for their names to be called during their commencement ceremony. Little did they know, their<span class=\"s1\"> class of 135 graduates<\/span> would be the most successful 2022 graduating class.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Newberry High School tops the graduation rate list with a graduation rate of 98.5%. Despite Alachua County and the state of Florida experiencing drops in overall <span class=\"s1\">graduation rates for the 2021-22 school year<\/span>, Newberry High School\u2019s rate increased, allowing it to earn the highest graduation rate among <span class=\"s1\">Alachua County public schools<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Newberry High School Principal James Sheppard said he was excited to hear about the school\u2019s graduation accomplishment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cI think the best thing you can do for any student is to make sure they have a diploma,\u201d Sheppard said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Following closely behind Newberry High School were Professional Academies Magnet at Loften High School (98.3%), Buchholz High School (95.9%), Santa Fe High School (88.8%) and Gainesville High School (88.7%), with Eastside High School (88.4%) and Hawthorne Middle\/High School (81.4%) rounding out the list for Alachua County public schools.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" title=\"Interactive or visual content\" src=\"https:\/\/flo.uri.sh\/visualisation\/12534902\/embed#?secret=JWzHzyvONP\" data-secret=\"JWzHzyvONP\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" height=\"575\" width=\"618\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Emily Purcell has a sophomore at Newberry High School. One of her sons, Levi Purcell, was admitted to the Academy of Criminal Justice at the school. This program allows him to focus on a potential career and work with teachers who share his interests.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Purcell said she feels that the school\u2019s success stems from the faculty. She described the principal of Newberry High School as personable and said that the teachers are \u201cvery responsive\u201d when it comes to helping students.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cI feel like [teachers are] just working with the students,\u201d Purcell said. \u201cThey want them to succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Over the last few years, the school has had a history of graduation success. In the 2018-19 school year, Newberry High was the first Alachua County public school to achieve a <span class=\"s1\">100% graduation rate<\/span>. But the COVID-19 pandemic changed that the following year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Newberry High School Assistant Principal Melissa Mauldin explained that the 2020 graduation and testing requirements were relaxed due to the pandemic and online schooling. Graduation rates fell in the following two school years, with the school earning a 99.3% and a 97.9% graduation rate, respectively.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Post-pandemic, the school works to achieve high graduation rates by focusing on student needs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cThe vision that we have at this school is that we\u2019re all in it together,\u201d Mauldin said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">She said the school focuses on communication between faculty, staff, students, administration, and parents and guardians to ensure that the expectations for graduation are clearly communicated and that help is always readily available for those who need it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cWe continue to work with our students and prepare them, offering them every opportunity that we can to help them do well. Not just in class by earning their credits and getting their GPA, but also helping the students that need extra help with test-taking strategies and study strategies and those kinds of things as well,\u201d Mauldin said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">In his fifth year as principal of the school, James Sheppard said the support from Newberry High School administration and staff wasn\u2019t the only thing contributing to their high graduation rate. Sheppard attributes a large part of the school\u2019s success to the community. He said Newberry\u2019s \u201csmall-town feel\u201d allows the community to \u201cfeel like family.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_337146\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-337146\" style=\"width: 2560px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-337146 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wuft.org\/news\/files\/2023\/01\/Suggs_Graduation_3-scaled-e1675137392158.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1235\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.wuft.org\/news\/files\/2023\/01\/Suggs_Graduation_3-scaled-e1675137392158.jpeg 2560w, https:\/\/www.wuft.org\/news\/files\/2023\/01\/Suggs_Graduation_3-scaled-e1675137392158-300x145.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.wuft.org\/news\/files\/2023\/01\/Suggs_Graduation_3-scaled-e1675137392158-1024x494.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.wuft.org\/news\/files\/2023\/01\/Suggs_Graduation_3-scaled-e1675137392158-768x371.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.wuft.org\/news\/files\/2023\/01\/Suggs_Graduation_3-scaled-e1675137392158-1536x741.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/www.wuft.org\/news\/files\/2023\/01\/Suggs_Graduation_3-scaled-e1675137392158-2048x988.jpeg 2048w, https:\/\/www.wuft.org\/news\/files\/2023\/01\/Suggs_Graduation_3-scaled-e1675137392158-500x241.jpeg 500w, https:\/\/www.wuft.org\/news\/files\/2023\/01\/Suggs_Graduation_3-scaled-e1675137392158-800x386.jpeg 800w, https:\/\/www.wuft.org\/news\/files\/2023\/01\/Suggs_Graduation_3-scaled-e1675137392158-1280x618.jpeg 1280w, https:\/\/www.wuft.org\/news\/files\/2023\/01\/Suggs_Graduation_3-scaled-e1675137392158-1920x926.jpeg 1920w, https:\/\/www.wuft.org\/news\/files\/2023\/01\/Suggs_Graduation_3-scaled-e1675137392158-1200x579.jpeg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\"\/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-337146\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Newberry High School\u2019s digital marquee on the corner of Southwest Second Avenue and Southwest 25th Street in Newberry reads, \u201cAlways Remember, Shepp Loves the Kids!!\u201d James Sheppard is in his fifth year as principal after serving as the assistant principal for two years. (Lauren Suggs\/WUFT News)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"p1\">Newberry is a close-knit community with a population roughly 19 times smaller than that of Gainesville. <span class=\"s1\">According to the 2020 U.S. Census<\/span>, Newberry\u2019s population was about 7,300 residents.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Sheppard also credits the high graduation rate to the surrounding elementary school, middle school, business partners and teachers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cThey\u2019re a huge part of making this happen, and we want to thank them as well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Touching on the \u201csmall-town feel\u201d of the community, Newberry Mayor Jordan Marlowe wrote of the school\u2019s success on Facebook while congratulating the students and faculty.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cOur Principals and teachers truly create communities on their campuses that foster success,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">While the school continues to strive for a 100% graduation rate in the years to come, Mauldin wants her students to know that they have a future of opportunities waiting for them after succeeding in high school. She said she wants the students to use high school as a way to find what they\u2019re interested in while keeping \u201can open mind of all that they can do beyond high school.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cUltimately, I want every student to leave here as a productive member of our community,\u201d Mauldin said.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>[ad_2]<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/__i\/rss\/rd\/articles\/CBMiWmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lnd1ZnQub3JnL25ld3MvMjAyMy8wMS8zMC9uZXdiZXJyeS1oaWdoLXNjaG9vbC1jZWxlYnJhdGVzLWhpZ2gtZ3JhZHVhdGlvbi1yYXRlL9IBAA?oc=5\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ad_1] On May 27, 2022, soon-to-be Newberry High School graduates lined the Exactech Arena as&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36787,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-learningtheory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36786"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36786\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36788,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36786\/revisions\/36788"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36787"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}