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School of week: St. Joseph's Catholic School Student Success Center helps students make the grade

When staff saw students who needed a little extra help in the classroom they found a way to fill the gap.

MACON, Ga. — St. Joseph's Catholic School went the extra mile to ensure that students succeed in the classroom with an entire center dedicated to giving them the tools they need. 

The Student Success Center is really useful for students but it wasn't always available to those who needed it. 

"There were students who I knew needed some extra academic support, but there was no time in the day to do that," Director and teacher in the Student Success Center Tina McGoldrick said.

The staff at the school decided to find a way to fill that gap. Then, they went after a grant.

"Oh my gosh we got $500,000 the first year and they refund every year. Not that much because we don't need construction anymore," McGoldrick said. 

The Logan Lewis foundation furnishes the grant which helps keep the Student Success Center going.

McGoldrick says now every year that same grant pays for the center's teacher salaries, along with their after school program and supplies.

"What we do for them is build up their basic skills for reading and math, but at the same time I think we build their confidence,"  she said.

Classroom teachers help identify which students may need  extra help. Then, they teach the kids at the Student Success Center a range of topics from how to study proficiently, to math techniques like the dot method. 

Students like Mary Redding King say she's seen an improvement since joining the program in kindergarten, and now she's in 4th grade.

"I started off not so good like c's and d's now I'm up to b's and a's," King said.

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