Operation Graduation 2011 Winners

I am excited to announce the winners of Operation Graduation 2011, and before I do, I would like to recognize the operations managers, center directors and center staff who made it possible for the Class of 2011 to earn their high school diplomas.

Thanks to our staff for inspiring our graduates to reflect on what their diplomas mean to them, their futures and their families. Each student essay and video reminded me of how important it is to provide an alternate route to graduation for our students – and how vital your roles of operations manager, director and teacher are to the success of our students.

We received more than 70 essay and video submissions this year from graduates in 21 centers. Special thanks to staff at the following centers who took time to collect essays and film FlipCam interviews during the busy graduation season: Limestone and Huntsville, Ala.; Charter Central Tucson and Charter West Phoenix; Blackshear, Lafayette and East Cobb/Marietta, Ga.; East Allen, Ind.; North Harlem Chicago, Crestwood, DeKalb, Downers Grove, Indian Head Park, Matteson North, Mundelein, Naperville East, Niles, and Skokie, Ill.; Forest Park, Ohio; Potosi, Mo.; and Grand Island, Neb.

Now, on to our winners!

Click student names to read their inspiring winning essays:

• Grand Prize, iPad 2: Ben Jambois (Skokie, Ill.)
• Grand Prize, iPad 2: Helen McBride (Forest Park, Ohio)
• First Runner-Up, iPod Touch: Kaliee McCarthy (Skokie, Ill.)
• Second Runner-Up, FlipSlide HD: Shane Fischler (Niles, Ill.)
• Third Runner-Up, FlipMino HD: Jakeith Broger (DeKalb, Ill.)
• Fourth Runner-Up, FlipUltra HD: Khamari Rodgers (Matteson, Ill.)

Essays from these students rounded out our Top 12:

• Nicole Bauer (Downers Grove, Ill.)
• Elizabeth Coulter (Forest Park, Ohio)
• Mary Litherland (Potosi, Mo.)
• Reggie Meadows (Downers Grove, Ill.)
• Blakely Pendergrass (Lafayette, Ga.)
• Angelica Quezada (Tucson, Ariz.)

I encourage our center staff members to keep these graduates’ words top of mind as we get ready to finish the fall semester. I hope they will serve as motivation to keep up the great work as we settle in after the holidays and work toward graduating the Class of 2012!