Uni High student trying to take on dropout prevention

URBANA – Linda Ly hopes to make a difference this school year for students who are thinking about dropping out of school.

Ly, a 17-year-old senior at University Laboratory High School, doesn't have a lot of firsthand knowledge of the subject.

"Uni is not a big dropout school," she acknowledged.

But she heard the stories of students who have dropped out or are thinking of doing so at a dropout-prevention summit recently. Ly helped plan the summit as a new member of the Illinois State Board of Education's Student Advisory Council. She's the third Uni student selected to serve on the council in the last four years.

Ly contacted high school counselors in the area to invite students to participate in the summit in Bloomington, which was led by the students on the council.

"It was a really interesting environment," Ly said. "A lot of the time, children don't want to talk to adults about personal issues like dropping out.

"There were so many things I learned," she continued. "It was so shocking for me, personally. It was interesting to hear stories of former dropouts or people planning to drop out. They were really concerned about how teachers didn't support them and the school didn't support them. I was really surprised how much these people didn't feel connected to their own school."

Ly said some of what she learned is students need a place to go after school or someone to talk to, if their home environment is not supportive. She and the other student advisory council members will present what they learned at another dropout summit for adult educators in early November, and offer their suggestions, such as peer counseling.

"The summit really helped the student advisory council think about what we could do because members of the student advisory council aren't dropping out, either," Ly said.

The 16 students on the council are selected through a competitive application process. Any sophomore, junior or senior attending a public high school in Illinois is eligible to serve.

Ly became interested in serving on the advisory council after talking with Micah Berman, who served on the advisory council from 2006 to '08 while a student at Uni. Another Uni student, Ranny Ma, served on the council in 2007-08.

"It sounded like a really interesting thing to do, and I thought it was really cool that you had a personal connection with the state board of education," Ly said. "It sounds really cheesy, but education is a foundation. And without education, you can't move forward."

She was particularly interested in the issue of access to education for everyone.

Ly and the other student advisory council members attended their first state board of education meeting in September.

"You would think things like this are really stuffy, but it was really chill," Ly said. "They were so kind to us and gave us a seat between all the board members. It wasn't like, 'These are kids. We don't want to talk to them.' They want to get our opinion."

The student advisory council members will plan a project they'll do this year and present to the state board at the end of the school year.

Ly feels she and the other advisory council members have already made a difference, though. At the end of the dropout-prevention summit, a girl told the group she was planning to drop out and the summit changed her mind.

"That was such a shocking and poignant moment for me," Ly said. "I didn't know I could have made that much of a difference, just in one day."

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