Alan Lee was kicked out of school for smoking marijuana and drinking on school grounds. He was also charged with robbery.
Now as a graduate of Pinnacle, an alternative program of the Vancouver School Board and the Ministry of Children and Family Development, Lee has received a grant of $2,200 from the STAND Foundation to complete an automotive service technician course.
Lee says if it werent for the financial assistance, he couldnt afford school in September. Im from a single-parent family, he said.
The grant money will cover an Ace It automotive course at Britannia secondary and pay for tools, boots and textbooks. He will receive credits from Vancouver Community College for the first level of trade training.
I think the first time you do it its free but I got kicked out, he said. Lees ultimate goal is to complete B.C. Institute of Technologys aerospace program and become a commercial pilot. I used to be in air cadets, the 17-year-old said. One time I got to co-pilot this glider and I thought it was pretty cool.
Lee lived and studied in Delta before he attended Pinnacle. Pinnacle is right above my probation office, he said. And my probation officer said I should go there.
Lee felt cared for by Pinnacles teacher and youth and family worker who helped him find a job and a volunteer position coaching basketball.
Grant applicants to STAND, short for Steps Towards a New Direction, dont need top grades. They need to be referred by a teacher or counsellor, outline the challenges theyve faced, their educational and career goals and the money they will need to complete their first year of post-secondary training.
Rachel Steel, a recent graduate of the Spectrum alternative program, had planned to take a year off school to work and save money for college until she learned she will receive a $2,900 grant from STAND. With two older siblings in college, Steel said her single mother would have a difficult time helping her.
The grant will cover her first year tuition and fees at Langara College where she wants to study psychology and sociology. I know, actually, two of the other recipients and I know that its just changed their lives completely, Steel said. The two girls I know who got it before would have probably never gone back to school.
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