Pictured from left are the first graduating class from the BOCES BOOST program: Garrett Brett Scherck, Gibran Aaron Reyes-Ramos Jr., Mica Osborn, Natashia Marie Larsen, Shannon Jennings, Erica Gutierrez, Oscar P. Ceballos, Maria Cazarez, and Jackeline E. Adarmes-Vasquez. The graduation ceremony was held Wednesday evening at the Davis Middle School auditorium. HERALD PHOTO/Becky Crum

BOOST (BOCES Opportunity for Self-Sufficiency Training) is a new program that began in Evanston on April 1.

Diane White, Coordinator of Adult Education, said Cheyenne and Sheridan have been running the program for several years. She said the program is for youth, age 16-21, out of school and at risk. She said Sheridan’s program is called SCOPE and the one in Cheyenne is called PROJECT PAYCHECK. White said that the program at BOCES is called BOOST.

“We do have a GED program here, but historically we have found the population does not do well in that setting. We call the program open entry and open exit. It means there is no formal teaching,” White said.

“Last year, we had 5 percent of GED students complete the program. This is not a good statistic for Uinta County,” White said.

White said that this age group does much better with structured and formal training.

White said that she and Mike Williams, the director of BOCES, have been working on the program for three years. She said they were finally able to work it out.

“We partner with Workforce Services so it is considered an employment training program. Part of that is working on GED and the other is career readiness certification. This is our first graduating class. Other programs told us to only expect about 60 percent of students to complete the program. We had 90 percent complete the first group,” White said.

For the complete article see the 06-30-2009 issue.

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