Burchell charts upward paths

WASILLA — It was enough to make grown men cry.

Tuesday’s Burchell High School graduation was a raucous occasion, liberally punctuated with applause and cheers of accomplishment. For Tommy Johnson, it was also an emotional time, one that evoked tears of pride and happiness. Johnson was among the hundreds of parents, family members and friends to celebrate the graduation of 87 Burchell seniors. Many of those families are like Johnson’s, where he watched his daughter become the family’s first high school graduate.

“It’s really, really exciting,” he said. “She’s the first one n the family to pull this off.”

The accomplishment was enough to bring the Johnson clan to the Wasilla Multi-Use Sports Complex early. “We’re right up in the front row,” he said.

Jeff Oster was emotional as well when his son, Brighton Lester, presented him with a rose and an ardent embrace during the graduation ceremony. Oster admits he wasn’t always the best father and that until his son entered Burchell, the teen was on a path to not finish high school.

“Burchell’s awesome,” Oster said. “He was on his way to not getting an education. I’m glad he stuck it out.”

Johnson’s and Oster’s stories carry themes common to Burchell’s graduation. An alternative school, BHS targets students who, for whatever reason, have trouble with the traditional high school format. Some have behaviorial issues, others are teen mothers, but all need the social skills, decision-making skills and academics to succeed in life, said Peter Burchell, who founded the school in 1988.

Tuesday was the 20th graduating class for the school, Burchell said while recalling the first graduation in 1989. There were two graduates and 21 cupcakes. This year, 87 students wore the baby blue caps and gowns of BHS graduates.

“That’s what it’s all about,” Burchell said. “That someone recognizes what you did. … [Burchell] is a different environment. It has to have the services that enables these kids to succeed — whether it’s mental health, housing, day care — and how you can remove those barriers so students can be successful.”

Without an alternative to traditional high school, Burchell estimates only about 25 of the 87 who received their high school diplomas Tuesday would have in one of Mat-Su Borough School District’s mainstream high schools.

“School is a lot of things, but if a student leaves without a work ethic, without the social skills and the education, they’ll be stuck in minimum-wage jobs for the rest of their lives,” he said.

A handful of Burchell students spoke at the ceremony; many were emotional. Brianna Blakely said she took the easy way out before by dropping out of school.

“When I was little, I couldn’t wait to go to high school,” she said. “Then less than a year after starting high school, I took the easy way out. I dropped out.”

She thought she didn’t need an education and that she was ready to make her way in the world.

“I was wrong,” Blakely said.

She became pregnant and her brother died, she said. “Then, I heard of this school, a great school.”

Because of her age, Blakely was told by one Burchell official it would be impossible for her to finish high school in the time she had left. She left that meeting “with no hope for my education,” she said. But another called her back and gave her a window of opportunity.

Brandi Woodward said Burchell “welcomed me in when I was 14 and pregnant,” and that she is grateful to have earned a high school diploma. Woodward and many others thanked Burchell for opening the alternative school.

Although retired for nine years, Burchell can’t stay away from the school that bears his name or the students who find an education there.

“There’s nothing more enjoyable to me than walking into a store and someone comes up and says, ‘You don’t know me, but my daughter went to your school. Now she’s a good mother and a good person and living a good life.’”