“Through personalized support, career training, and a deep belief in every student’s potential, Project HOPE has helped hundreds turn obstacles into opportunities.”
Students who come to Project HOPE have a singular goal in mind: finish high school work and graduate.
What they find, though, is often much more. The high school dropout prevention and recovery program at Francis Tuttle Technology Center offers a pathway out of an academic hole that can appear for a multitude of reasons, and it has been doing so now for 30 years.
“For three decades, Project HOPE has been a place where students rediscover confidence, rebuild their futures, and reclaim their education,” Randa Pirrong, Principal of Project HOPE, said at the program’s 30th anniversary celebration. “Through personalized support, career training, and a deep belief in every student’s potential, Project HOPE has helped hundreds turn obstacles into opportunities.”
Project HOPE does not judge the circumstances that lead a student to walk through the doors. Instead, it challenges them to think bigger and to experience the control they have over how their future unfolds.
“It challenged me in places that I didn’t know I probably needed to be challenged in,” Tiffany Frazier, who graduated from the program in 1998 and now works at Francis Tuttle, said. “It was a good experience, because it was small and it allowed you to be more independent. I think that was something that I was kind of searching for.”
Students at Project HOPE divide their days between classroom learning and career training. In classroom learning, they dedicate time with teachers to catch up on high school work. They move at a pace that is right for them and set credit milestones to get them back on track in time to graduate.
“This is more calm, collected,” Lauren Girard, a high school junior currently in Project HOPE, said. “It’s easier to focus more, and I feel like it’s more self-paced.”
Career training offers students the opportunity to develop job-ready skills. This carries them beyond the classroom into a real-world career.
Girard is enrolled in the Aviation program at Francis Tuttle. Students spend a year learning about various aspects of aircraft fabrication and repair, as well as drone flying. Girard said she is excited about how her next year will go.
“I like working with my hands, so that program stood out to me,” she said. “A lot of people in my family served in the Air Force and the Navy, so it seemed like a good fit for me.”
Students who come to Project HOPE are all focused on completing their high school education. Even if they are at different points in that journey, 2001 graduate Laura Thompson said it builds an encouraging atmosphere.
“The focus shift was definitely present at HOPE,” she said. “You were there because you wanted to get high school done. It helped being with a group of people who were all focused on that goal, and teachers who would answer all of the questions that pop in my head, and there are a lot of those.”
Sarah Lambert has been teaching at Project HOPE for three years now, and prior to that she taught high school for about 20 years. She said one of the biggest differences is the amount of time teachers get to spend with each student.
For some of them, that extra time makes an even bigger difference that goes beyond academics.
“We end up becoming like a mom to them,” she said. “And we have a great instructional team here. We have to motivate students in a way that is non-confrontational. And our motivation comes from wanting them to be successful beyond a high school diploma.”
After graduating in 2024, Zahari Davis returned to his home state of Maryland, but not before a stop at the Culinary Institute of America in New York. Davis said his time at Project HOPE helped him see where education could take him, and he is now looking to use it to move up in the culinary world.
“I would say just keep pushing. Even if you think you’re not doing well, or you won’t get better, I promise you’ll do better than you thought you would,” he said. “There’s a lot you don’t know you can do.”
