Phoenix High School ‘search and rescue’ team helps students graduate thanks to improvement grant

Published 8:30 am Wednesday, August 6, 2025

When it comes to graduation each year, Phoenix High School and Northwest Georgia College & Career Academy Principal Sherri Travisano said no student should be “left behind.”

And thanks to a Comprehensive School Improvement Grant, Travisano said Phoenix students who were previously in danger of not being able to graduate from high school are able to see their dreams realized.

The $40,000 grant was first approved by Whitfield County Board of Education members in 2024. During the Board’s August meeting on Monday, Travisano said this was the second year the grant was implemented at the school.

“One of the things we’re trying to do is find students who were close to finishing (school) that stopped coming or just fell a little short of high school graduation,” Travisano said. “We want to continue to give hope and opportunities to those students.”

Travisano said the grant acts as a “search and rescue” for students who withdraw from classes before the end of the school year.

“We have the opportunity to call students and call families whose students stopped coming to school,” she said. “In the summer of 2024, we were able to contact 12 families that reenrolled their students in school, and 11 of those 12 graduated, which is amazing. We were so excited.”

Before the 2025-26 school year began for Whitfield County Schools students on Tuesday, Travisano said 14 students were contacted who then reenrolled at Phoenix.

“Seven of those students (attended) summer school, and of those seven, two graduated this summer,” she said. “They met all graduation requirements, which changed the graduation number up a few. So, it’s pretty awesome.”

According to the Georgia Department of Education’s 2024 College and Career Ready Performance Index, Phoenix High School had a 73.1% graduation rate, up 12.5% from the previous year.

Hayley Likovetz, Phoenix High’s graduation coach, said she was “fortunate” to take part in the “search and rescue” efforts during the summer this year.

“My year did not stop at graduation, and part of our search and rescue was also reaching out to our current students,” she said. “With that, we made 69 phone calls home and we talked to 35 parents. And with those 35 parents, we were able to get 11 referrals to our health counselor. So, we’ll have 11 students that are starting out the first day of school with those resources that they need. And we have 69 students that we were able to call home, show that we were thinking about over the summer, and say that we’re excited to have them back.”

Likovetz said those 69 students were also sent personalized postcards with information about the first day of school.

“Several of our (school) social workers also worked diligently with home visits and outreach with our students,” she said.

That included Whitfield County Schools social worker Yugiley Manriguez, who said she contacted several students during summer break who were unsure if they would be able to return to school.

“We had a student who withdrew from school at the beginning of the (2024-25) year due to significant changes in his living situation,” Manriguez said. “Despite our efforts to encourage him to stay enrolled, he ultimately made the decision to leave. Throughout the year, both myself and other school social workers remained in contact with him, and we provided food and support as needed.”

Manriguez said she and fellow social worker Melanie Watson were able to reconnect with the student and successfully encourage him to return to school later that year.

“Unfortunately, due to ongoing instability in his housing situation and the need to seek employment, he stopped attending again,” she said. “(Watson) continued to maintain communication with him over the summer, offering consistent support. In addition to outreach, we have provided him and other students facing similar challenges with essential resources, including food, clothing and referrals to community services.”

Manriguez said that student officially returned to school on Tuesday.

“I will never forget what he said to me through several text messages,” she said. “He told me, ‘I’m just trying not to be homeless because I really want to go back to school when it starts, so I can finish and get my diploma. One of the worst decisions I’ve made in life was leaving school when I was almost done with it. I’m very thankful I have everybody at Phoenix. My own family has never said they want to see me succeed, so it means a lot. I’m not dropping out.'”

Phoenix High’s mental health counselor, Erick Ralph, said she is “proud” of the work that was done during the summer through the grant.

“But all of us are even more proud of the 14 students that are going to walk away with a diploma this year,” she said. “And for their families that get to celebrate that graduation.”

Superintendent Mike Ewton said he is thankful for Phoenix’s “search and rescue” team.

“It is noble work,” he said. “It’s not just these students that are going to be affected, but you’ve potentially changed the trajectory of their families for generations. So, thank you for all of that extra effort.”