It was a proud moment for The Community School today as we witnessed 2 of our alumni graduate the Baltimore County Fire Academy. Congratulations CJ Sosa and Jason Hammonds! The Baltimore County Fire Department only has 2 graduating classes a year. This class started with over 2,000 applicants and the graduating class had only 31 who made it - two of those were our young men! You have made your families and community proud of your determination and achievement! We honor that you have chosen a job of service and giving back to your community. Once again our young people have stepped up as an example to the rest of us. We all wish you safety, a long career and much happiness and fulfillment!...
Good afternoon family, friends and staff, I would like to thank each and every one of you for coming out and celebrating this important day. This year has been an awesome year. We have had some ups and downs, but we always managed to get back on track. My journey at TCS began four years ago when my former sponsor, Ms. Sandy, made a wrong turn and read a sign that said “The Community School an academic and mentoring high school.” I remember Ms. Sandy telling me that TCS was a private school. She had me thinking I was going to a fancy private school; turned out I was wrong. When I first saw the school and met with Mr. Tom, I knew I wanted to attend TCS. I was so ready for a change in my life. You see in public school I was always a problem child. I chose to hang with the so called popular kids. Hanging with the popular kids only caused me to be in a lot of trouble. I was always fighting or being in a lot of drama. It seemed like my mother was up the school every single day. I finally realized at the end it wasn't hurting anyone but myself. When I graduated 8th grade I was happy, but when I actually thought about it I don’t know how they passed me. I didn’t think I was ready for high school, and let me tell you I wasn’t. My first year at TCS was really hard for me. I didn’t know how...
Hi everyone. It's been a long, long, looooong time coming. You see, I started out my high school career in a Christian school called Greater Grace. Tiny school (Well its giant compared to this one, but it's small by the standards of other schools) When circumstances changed, I had to leave that school and gave homeschooling a try. During my time as a homeschool student, the work habits I had developed had seemed to basically disappear. I was not motivated at all to do the work, and just ended up sitting at home playing Xbox and eating Doritos. After the end of what was supposed to be my freshman year, I wasn't going to move on to be a sophomore. Instead of sticking with what wasn’t working, my mom told me she heard of a school that would allow me to regain the year I lost. I was told about the three-year program the school offered, and I was totally ready to get that year I lost back. Over the course of my years at the Community School, I’ve learned a lot, not just academically, but about myself as an individual. I’ve gained the confidence to do things I never thought I’d be able to do. I never thought I would travel anywhere outside the U.S., but now I’m gonna be traveling to Africa with my church. A thing I’ve only dreamed of. Thank you Mr. Tom for everything you’ve done for me at the school. Thank you for being a good teacher and role model for me...
For me to talk about this day, I need to go back to 2014 - one of the toughest years for me. That was the first year in one of the most important transitions in my life. I was to be done with being a child and to start laying down the foundation for the rest of my life. Through sheer luck, I made it into Baltimore City College, and I thought I would be good from there on. I was extremely, extremely wrong. Firstly, I had a deep hatred for the place. I showed up two days late and was already out of the “loop” of making friends, and those who I did know from middle school acted as if I was a stranger. I already had issues at home financially - threats of eviction, little food in the house, many other unforeseeable expenses, and I felt I didn’t need another stressor in my life. I dropped out. For almost a year, my only two good friends were Bud Light and my computer. Then, after months of being pushed to go back to school, I found TCS, or more so, TCS found me. Honestly, when I first started at TCS, I was awful. I could barely participate in class because I was so tired. I barely did any of my homework and, now that I think about it, I probably shouldn’t have lasted more than a month, but I was spared. Mr. Thomas Culotta, a man I resented at the time for making me work so hard, saw something in...
Wow, what a journey this has been! Four years ago, when I came to The Community School, I never imagined how much it would change my life. Being a public school student up to that point, I never really enjoyed school; it always seemed to be a drag. By the time high school came around, I really only had one choice, Mervo. It only took me three months to realize that I was going to either quit school or start hanging around the wrong crowd. My parents saw how unhappy I was, and neither of them could stand it. I mean we were about to pack our stuff up and leave the city. My mom started searching, and I mean searching, when she came across The Community School. She told me that it was a small school, but I found out later during my interview just how small the school really was. We talked some more about the school and I had an interview with Mr. Tom. As Mr. Tom was talking about the school, I took a deep breath and just thought to myself, “This is for me.” I knew before the interview was even over that TCS was the next chapter in my life. Within the first couple months I started exceeding my own expectations. I saw myself growing in ways I never imagined, I began to understand what was going on in the world and having conversations with family about current events. I developed better social skills, I even felt better about speaking in front of...
Good Afternoon everyone, I hope you are having a good time so far. I was not a good student before I came to this school. My grades were horrible - I had D’s and C’s, and rarely were there A’s or B’s. Going to school was boring and a waste of time in my mind back then. I would fake being sick or pretend to get hurt so one of my family members would come and pick me up. My attendance was not the best and I rarely tried to do school work and homework. I have come a long way since then. In this school, I have never missed a single day. That is a huge first for me. My grades have gone from D’s and C’s to B’s. When I first started this school, I had to go back to addition because of my earlier school experiences. Now, I have almost completed the Integrated Math book. Every year that I have been here, I have said that this is the best year I have ever done academically. I’m pretty sure this is, in part, because I actually want to do the work. I love being in this school and I can’t imagine being anywhere else. My change, since I have been a student of this school, has been dramatically for the better. The Community School is an academic and mentoring high school. The mentoring part of the school has impacted me as much as the academics have. Because of this school, I am a better person. I...
[embed]https://youtu.be/6kMUya_B-vo[/embed] This week's edition of TCS Student News was researched, written, produced and anchored by students Jordan Leon and Donald Lacy. In addition to news around the school and international and national news, they included a special tribute to friend and former classmate Christopher V. White III who passed away this week....
[embed]https://youtu.be/IasAhDi31KU[/embed] This week’s TCS Student News broadcast was researched, written, produced and anchored by Sean LaRicci and Salma Ruiz-Cruz. This is the best place to learn what’s been happening around TCS in the past week and to catch up on international and national news...
[embed]https://youtu.be/1mM_ruRjfcg[/embed] This week’s TCS Student News broadcast was researched, written, produced and anchored by Caleb Rohe and Vernon Laumann. Stories range from international to TCS....