November 28, 2009 – Indianapolis Star – IN, USA

James Turner spent a recent Thursday morning doing what he does every day: Overcoming obstacles keeping Arlington High School students from graduating.

In one hour, he helped a boy deal with an abusive parent, arranged a job so another could support his grandmother without dropping out and switched the classes of a girl to get her away from another girl who liked to provoke fistfights with her.

It was, he said, an easy day.

Turner is one of 14 graduation coaches paid for by the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce and placed in schools around the city, all with the goal of helping students finish high school.

The idea is that every dropout reaches a point when they make that decision — perhaps after a conflict with a teacher or a bad decision outside of school — and that heading off those situations will keep more kids in school. Read story.