Finding Success:Students Find Second Chance at SeaCoast High School

As the school year wound down last week at SeaCoast High School – the district’s alternative high school – both

Anthony DeVito and AamirahCaraballo could hardly stay in their seats during the school’s underclassman awards day.

It wasn’t because they were antsy, but rather because they had won quite a few awards.

Both students took stock in the fact that they’ve been able to find success at SeaCoast after having a rough start at Revere High School, and now with a turnaround under their belts, both said they are shooting for college in the future.

DeVito, a junior, began his high school career at Northeast Voke, but had a problem commuting to the school – so he ended up coming back to Revere High School (RHS). At RHS though, an illness caused him to miss school, and it set him back significantly.

“At RHS, I developed a stomach problem and was in and out of the hospital for quite a while,” he said. “RHS wouldn’t accept my doctor’s notes, so I was presented with the option of being held back, or coming to SeaCoast.”

He opted for SeaCoast.

What he found at SeaCoast was a tightly-knit community of students, teachers and social workers that check in carefully on students in a way that cannot be done at RHS. He also found a credit recovery program that has helped him to make up an entire year that he missed, and then some.

“After all I went through, I came here and pretty much worked to be able to skip a grade,” he said. “I actually have enough credits to graduate this year, but I’m coming back anyway.”

Now on the golf team and part of the National Champion cheerleading team, DeVito said he is ready to begin looking at colleges next year to study molecular biology. He said he owes a lot of that success to a school that he always had heard was not so good.

“Obviously, everyone had heard it wasn’t one of the greatest schools, but I’ve found it the opposite,” he said. “It is one of the greatest schools in the district. I couldn’t be happier about coming here.”

Meanwhile, Caraballo was a good student at RHS, but had a bad habit of missing lots of school. After her second year there – and still in the freshman class – she was faced with a decision.
“I was there for two years and had a problem with showing up for school,” said the sophomore. “The first year, they held me back. The second year, I was faced with having a third freshman year or going to SeaCoast.”

Caraballo also chose SeaCoast, and it was there – with a support system – that she began to show up for school every day. Not only that, she was excelling and won awards for her effort.

“It was different at first with a different environment and new people,” she said. “I got used to it, though, and that new environment brought a positive change.”

Caraballo said she wants to study music – either songwriting or production – when she graduates. She said she doesn’t know what she would have done without the option of SeaCoast, but she said she knows she would have done everything possible to find a way to get her diploma.

“You need a high school diploma for anything these days, especially for a good paying job,” she said.

Meanwhile, next year Caraballo hopes to do exactly what she did this year – show up.

“I plan on coming back and doing the same thing I did this year – being here every day and getting all my work in on time,” she said with a smile.