Grad Sarah Paiz thanks Interim Director Adrien Esdaile for constant motivation and connection to resources. Gateway to College Founding Director Erik Murrell at Thursday’s ceremony. Cityrah Berrett crossed the graduation stage Thursday after securing both a high school diploma and several c ollege credits — despite believing only a year ago that “school wasn’t for me.” Berrett is one of the last students ever to graduate from the city’s Gateway to College program, now that the city’s school district has decided to end this non-traditional high school program thanks in part to low enrollment. Since 2018, New Haven Public Schools (NHPS) has partnered with CT State Gateway (formerly known as Gateway Community College) and Achieving The Dream to run the Gateway to College program, which offers under-credited students an alternative route for completing high school. On Thursday at around 10:30 a.m., the program’s 11 graduating students were celebrated by family members, friends, and school officials during a ceremony held at CT State Gateway’s campus at 20 Church St. The Class of 2026 will be the final group ever to graduate from Gateway to College. NHPS spokesperson Justin Harmon told the Independent that the program’s enrollment has “dwindled” over the years. Harmon said the program has been a “cornerstone” for student success and has been “a crucial intervention for New Haven’s most vulnerable students.” Gateway to College is free of cost for high schoolers, providing them with free college courses, textbooks, borrowed laptops, and daily lunches. Harmon said NHPS has deepened and expanded its college and career pathways in recent years, including by “developing more internal capacity to provide students with a wider range of options.” As a result of the declining enrollment for the Gateway to College program, Harmon concluded, “We are transitioning our approach to reflect our current enrollment and the expanded opportunities now available that did not exist when this program was first enacted. We remain fully committed to our partnership with CT State Gateway as we make this shift.” The program is referral-based and the district sets enrollment parameters annually. A 2024-25 contract between NHPS and the community college cost the city’s school district $550,000 to support “students at risk of leaving high school and who are significantly behind in credits.” on Thursday morning, dozens attended the graduation ceremony at Gateway. Attendees came with handfuls of gold-and-black balloons and flower bouquets to congratulate their loved ones for officially moving on from high school.  School officials in attendance included Gateway President Shang-Kwei Wang, interim Gateway to College Director Adrien Esdaile, NHPS Asst. Supt. Alyshia Perrin, NHPS Planning and Placement Chairman Pamela Monk-Kelley, Gateway to College Resource Specialist Kiomara Oliveras, and NHPS Director of Student Services Typhanie Jackson. The Gateway to College program was founded in New Haven in 2018 through a partnership between the school district and the community college, and thanks to the work of founding director Erik Murrell. Murrell offered closing remarks at Thursday’s ceremony.  He recalled being kicked out of NHPS after attending Bishop Woods, Betsy Ross, and Wilbur Cross. He said he spent much of his youth in the streets due to having to provide for his single-parent home. He said his mother suffered from manic depression and schizophrenia, and he recalled being told constantly by a staffer at Cross, “Jail or Yale,” before being sent to the alternative school Urban Youth.  Murrell reminded Thursday’s graduates that “your expectations belong to you.” He said they should begin making specific plans for the futures they want for themselves, now that they have high-school diplomas. Esdaile, who the graduates nicknamed “auntie,” was celebrated for the “tough love” she showed to the program’s students, who typically spend three semesters working through courses needed to graduate. Since its founding in 2018, the program has allowed students a more college-like schedule of courses rather than the typical 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. high-school day. This more-flexible schedule is designed to allow students to take care of their families, work, and get college credits.  From working with Oliveras to send emails, text, and making calls to parents, Esdaile said the entire Gateway to College team wore many diffferent hats — as educators often do. Berrett, one of the program’s 11 newly minted graduates, said after crossing the stage Thursday she was able to graduate high school only because she shifted to the Gateway to College program. She left New Haven Academy in 2024 because the traditional high school schedule was too “restrictive,” she said. Rather than waking up at 6 a.m. daily for at least four high school classes, Barrett was instead able to wake up at 10 a.m. to attend the only classes she needed to graduate, typically two a day.  She next dreams of going to college for culinary arts or interior design, thanks to experiencing college early on. “It made me realize I can actually do college,” she said. Gateway to College African American history instructor Clifton Graves, a retired former city probate judge, was the ceremony’s keynote speaker. Graves has also taught history at Gateway Community College for over 25 years. He said Thursday that Gateway to College is a necessary program that meets a real need in New Haven. “This program brings out the eagle in the students,” he said, referring to a story he had told of an African proverb about a chicken farmer raising an eagle that was raised to believe he was a chicken until breaking free from its surrounding constraints and flying toward its true potential.  During his speech, Graves also left the grads with the reminder that, “if you stay ready, you ain’t got to get ready.” He concluded that while there are people in the world who will see you like a chicken, in actuality, all of the graduates on Thursday are eagles. The students repeated aloud with Graves, “I am an eagle and I will be the best I can be, I will do the best I can do.”   See a full list of graduates below. Some of these students need to go to summer school to officially finish. Eleven of these students walked the stage at Thursday’s graduation ceremony. January graduatesJune GraduatesTaj B. BanksCityrah BarrettMastian A. CepedaMessiah DennyAngel C. GlassAaron HaydenNyree N. LafleurBrooklyn JordanZyAasiah N. MooreJenalize MartinezSara N. PaizHazel RiveraSilvia Sanchez PerezAmir RobinsonAniya Witherspoon Gateway to College team Adrien Esdaile and Kiomara Oliveras. Grad Mastian Cepeda secures high school diploma thanks to Gateway to College. Graves to graduates: “Fly, eagle, fly. Soar and take your rightful place on this earth.” The class’s top student, Sara Paiz, went from fighting and missing school daily to straight A’s at Gateway to College. She credited the program for pushing her to be independent after she doubted she’d finish high school following an ACL injury. Next, she’s off to study criminal justice and psychology at Gateway for two years. “This was my second chance.” The post Gateway To College’s Final Grads Soar Like Eagles  appeared first on New Haven Independent. ...read more read less