My high school had a rule that if any student was tardy 3 or more times, they would receive detention. I was always a rule follower and avoided trouble at all costs, but sometimes I was 5-10 minutes late because of my carpool. I remember actually feeling angry about the rule, it’s such an extreme consequence for teenagers who had trouble getting to school by 7 am each day. Here’s how I solved my problem: on any day I was going to be late, I would just skip school entirely to avoid detention. The result was that instead of missing 5 -10 minutes of homeroom, I would miss a full day of instruction. I never got detention, but I also missed enough days of school that my grades suffered. Nothing about that experience was restorative. I didn’t grow as a person, and the only thing I learned was that high school was another “us vs. them” kind of place.

50 years ago today, members of the LGBTQIA+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Intersex, Asexual, etc.) community began a series of demonstrations against the Manhattan police for perpetual harassment and social discrimination at the Stonewall Inn. A place of refuge for many, the Stonewall Inn, an openly gay bar in New York City in the 1960’s, was frequently raided by police (1). Usually patrons scattered into the streets but this time, they rallied together.

Here at CYC we’re pulled in two different directions. We’re optimistic about the work that’s been done in the past 10 years, cutting the number of students who drop out nearly in half from more than 18,000 in 2005.

Yet as we all know, Colorado is changing rapidly and becoming one of the most expensive places to live in the United States. The employment sector is also changing and focused on high-growth industry pathways like information and technology and construction —jobs that often require a diploma and post-secondary education. A study by Georgetown University estimates that 74 percent of all jobs in Colorado will require high school completion and some level of a post-secondary education by next year.