Forty-five Monroe High School students met their goals in the third trimester of the school year and received checks for $200 each as part of Monroe High School’s Allies in Monroe (AIM) program.
“These kids are all great examples of what AIM stands for,” said Monroe High School Principal Valerie Orr. “These students know someone believes in them; they have shown tremendous persistence and have learned through AIM that hard work does pay off.”
AIM is an academic incentive and mentoring program for all MHS students. The program is designed to enhance student achievement, increase the number of students furthering their education after high school, and improve student-staff-community relationships. It also aims to enhance the overall Monroe High School college-going culture. MHS is the only local school to offer a program like this for students.
The program started when school began last September. It had 58 students to begin with, 29 of which made their goals which was to improve the grade-point-averages by at least 15 percent. By the third trimester, the number of students in the program had grown to 131 and 45 of them achieved their goals. Now that school is out, more than 100 students made their goals at least one time during the school year.
“There would have been even more but three kids missed by .oo1 percent each,” said Mrs. Orr, who also thanked the “allies” or the mentors who worked with the students, supporting them and encouraging them.
Four students made their goals all three trimesters. They are Jaleene Frayer, Nathaniel Gaw, Joseph Mininni, and Joseph Sivils. At the banquet, two local groups were cited by AIM for their strong financial support of the program and were designated as “AIM Angels.” They are the Monroe High School Alumni Association and GROW Monroe. Monroe Bank & Trust was cited, too, for its continued support of the group.
Students recognized for achieving their goals were: Shane Adrian, Meshawn Aldridge, Madisen Boylan, Chelsea Brooks, Cynthia Caincross, Luke Carroll, Aaron Carter, Kyle Cassidy, Jeffrey Copi, Courtney Cowan, Precious Dafney-Burciaga, Tywan Davis, Jaleene Frayer, Nathaniel Gaw, Alayna Hensley, Gabriel Howell, Zach Jenkins, Nicholas Kessler, Hunter Kinsey, Jacob Labeau, Cheyenne Lizyness, Beau Massingill, Bre’Ann McAtee, Johnathan McNamee, Joseph Mininni, Tevin Nickols, Joshua Parson, Harlan Pfefferle, Jayla Phillips, Darian Reed, Arthur Rone, Jared Salliotte, Heaven Scaggs, Alexandria Short, Trent Shotwell, Joe Sivils, Nathaniel Stevens, Daniel Sulfaro, Zoey Turner, Trevor Walls, Kaylee Watters, Jalen Wilkerson, Mariah Wilkes, and Reggena Wortinger, Lindsey Zawacki.