In Newark: Juvenile Detention Students Graduate, Show ‘Education Is Liberation’

NEWARK, NJ — A group of seven students at Sojourn High School, an alternative school at the Essex County Juvenile Detention Center in Newark, showed that “education is liberation” when they recently earned their middle school and high school diplomas.

Essex County Juvenile Detention Center Director Dennis Hughes and Sojourn High School Principal Rodney Evans Jenkins hosted a commencement ceremony in the facility’s gymnasium for the Class of 2017.

According to a county news release, four students received their high school diplomas, two received high school equivalency certification and one received a middle school diploma.

Wearing caps and gowns from their respective hometown schools, the graduates spoke briefly about themselves, the obstacles they overcame and the people who helped and influenced them. After receiving their diplomas, they presented a single rose to a family member or friend who came to support them during the graduation.

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According to county officials, the Essex County Juvenile Detention Center has an 8,000 book library on site and is the only detention facility in the state to offer a full, 6.5 hour school day for detainees.

The school’s alternative education program is designed to serve both classified and non-classified at-risk students. Established in 1997, the program provides students with an “alternative to traditional educational experience” and consists of middle and high school students who have been pre-adjudicated, exhibit chronic discipline problems, and are in danger of not graduating.

In addition, the school offers extracurricular activities including modern and litergical dance, public speaking, poetry jam sessions, mock trial experiences, and a spring junior-senior prom.

The SHS curriculum is based on the NJ Core Curriculum Content Standards and the student’s Individual Program Plan or Individual Educational Program, county officials said.

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“The teachers and staff are very proud of the Class of 2017,” said Laurie Newell, Superintendent of the Essex Regional Educational Services Commission, which operates Sojourn High School.

“Today culminates all of your years of schooling, but it is also a new beginning,” Newell encouraged the graduates. “You will be a better person because of the faith others have placed in you to achieve. Don’t allow anyone to set limitation on your potential.”

“Education is truly the foundation and first step of achievement to success,” said commencement speaker Joyce Harley, the vice president of administration and finance at Essex County College.

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Photo: Sojourn High School

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