Hartland’s alternative high school was recognized as the 2013 School of the Year by the Michigan Alternative Education Organization. LEGACY, the alternative high school in Hartland, has been providing an alternative option for area high school students for 30 years and has recently been recognized as the School of the Year by the Michigan Alternative Education Organization.
It’s an honor that LEGACY principal Kirk Evenson credits his staff with praising them for their active involvement with students and programs at the school. “We have a wonderful group of staff members who feel like they belong, they have ownership,” he said. “It’s their school and they’re proud of it and that’s evident and that’s why it’s successful.”
This year, Hartland Legacy was also honored by the State of Michigan for for excelling in the creation of an outstanding workforce development program. “Each year Livingston County Workforce Development Council recognizes work development programs. Legacy Alternative High School is a program that has been running for 30 years during which they have worked with at-risk high school youth between the ages of 14-19 years of age. This outstanding school has met or exceeded all of the program goals required, such as skill attainment rate, diploma attainment rate and retention rate,” says the Livingston County Workforce Development Council.
Additionally, Hartland Legacy Schools received a Certificate of Congressional Recognition for for receiving the Outstanding workforce Development Program Award from the Livingston County Workforce Development Council.
School principal, Kirk Evenson credits part of the school’s success with their implementation of the Dale Carnegie Course for a select group of 20 students. “I think Dale Carnegie Training sets us apart from other schools – a cut above the rest,” says Evenson. Students are selected based on a referral process whereby teachers select students who are already proven leaders, but they are also looking for students who need a voice.
About the Dale Carnegie Course at Legacy, Mr. Evenson says, “The children progress from it. We as a school progress from it. It makes them better students and better citizens.” He also added that the results show in the students’ grades, their family lives improve and the success of the program even shows in the students’ ACT scores (a standardized test that all Juniors take). Dale Carnegie Partner and Master Trainer, Mark Will gave the students a pep talk about being accountable. He addressed all the Juniors prior to their taking the ACT test. The results? Legacy Students had the highest ACT scores in years.
Principal Kirk Evenson also feels that everyone would get something out of taking the Dale Carnegie Course. He gets great joy from seeing his students get the most enhanced skills set possible in today’s competitive environment. “There’s always room for improvement,” says Evenson. Dale Carnegie Training is without a doubt changing the lives of these young people. Mr. Evenson also commented, “I’m grateful for the opportunity for our students – it’s taken ordinary students and made them extraordinary and prepared them for the next stage in life. The Dale Carnegie program ignites a fire in these students and gets them excited about future.”
Dale Carnegie Trainer Mark Will commented about the students participating in the course, “It’s impressive how smart these young adults are. We don’t give kids the credit they deserve. We can learn so much from them.” Dale Carnegie Trainer, Jef Kupiec added that he is “most impressed that these students take advantage of the opportunities that are in front of them. My situation growing up was similar to many of these students and I didn’t take advantage of these opportunities. It’s wonderful to see so much hope.”
One Legacy student who is participating in the program, Trevor Furay, said it best, “I’m a human relations champion because I take action to be the best leader I can possibly be.”
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