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Oralee Jane Burchfield fought the urge to drop out as a freshman at Herron High School.
The classes were harder and the expectations were greater than she anticipated. And the 30-minute IndyGo bus or Uber ride from her home on the south side of Indianapolis to the school’s campus on the near northside frequently deterred her from attending.
After transferring to Indianapolis Metropolitan High School her sophomore year, the 16-year-old is now set to graduate early from one of the city’s oldest charter schools.
“I felt really welcomed, “ Oralee Jane said. “And as it progressed, I started to come to school more — way more than I did before.”
Launched in 2004 by Goodwill Education Initiatives through the Goodwill of Central and Southern Indiana, Indy Met is an alternative option for students who experienced challenges at a previous school or have other barriers to learning — such as those who are pregnant, in foster care, struggling in class due to behavioral issues, or have fallen behind on credits.
The small school served just under 200 students this year in the same space off West Michigan Street where the ceremony for the Class of 2025 will cap the school’s 20th year of existence.
Indy Met will celebrate the first of two graduation ceremonies for its Class of 2025 on June 7, near the end of a high school graduation season across Indianapolis that started this month. The school anticipates 50 graduates combined for its spring and summer graduations.
Indy Met initially opened as a neighborhood school to serve students in the Haughville neighborhood, said Betsy Delgado, chief mission and education officer for Goodwill of Central and Southern Indiana. But staff eventually realized that many students were navigating challenging systems, such as foster care or the juvenile justice system.
So about eight years ago, the school shifted focus from a general neighborhood school to one that responded to the challenges its existing students were facing.
“I think up until then, we were getting a bit lost and we were kind of making decisions based on accountability and who we were recruiting,” Delgado said. “Instead, we decided, ‘Well, let’s celebrate and recruit the students that are in the building.’”
Today, Principal Shannon Goings Brown said the school’s population generally falls into two categories: students who were academically unsuccessful at their previous schools, or students who had behavior issues at their previous schools. The two challenges often go hand in hand.
That’s why Indy Met creates a “Puma plan” — named after the school’s mascot — customized for each student based on answers they provide about their experiences, Goings Brown said.
“It asks questions like — not only what are your goals and things like that — but also what are your triggers?” Goings Brown said. “What are the things that in the past caused you to be kicked out of class?”
The school’s population leaves it with a graduation rate that’s well below that of other Indianapolis high schools. Last year, the school graduation rate for students who did not use waivers was roughly 45% compared with the average graduation rate for IPS of roughly 87%.
But the school typically sees a higher five-year graduation rate, Goings Brown said — its most recent five-year graduation rate was roughly 60%. It prides itself on not issuing waivers so that students are truly prepared for a career or college — in that same spirit, all students must earn either dual credits or an industry-recognized certification in order to graduate.
The school also stresses relationships with staff to keep students using coaches that engage students and families with supports they may need outside of school. That includes staff like Darryl Hutson Jr., a family empowerment coach whom Oralee Jane credits for her success.
“He did keep encouraging me to actually do my work and come to school,” she said.
Indy Met also offers other resources to keep students in school — a Gleaners food bank is on site in the school cafeteria, and Goodwill can also offer financial help for other challenges families may face through its “barrier removal” fund.
Braylin Stevens tapped the barrier removal fund when his car — which he used to get to school — broke down and needed a new battery. Now, he will graduate and attend Purdue University to study communications.
Looking back on her high school career, Oralee Jane realized how much she has changed.
“When I was a freshman I would’ve never thought about going to college,” she said. “I hated the idea of going to school for another four years.”
Today, she hopes to enroll in Indiana University-Bloomington or Ivy Tech Community College and pursue a career in psychology.
Amelia Pak-Harvey covers Indianapolis and Lawrence Township schools for Chalkbeat Indiana. Contact Amelia at [email protected].
