Returning students like Brandon Suarez say it took a while to realize the importance of finishing school. He was just months away from graduating when he dropped out two years ago, and says the Re-Engagement Center has given him a second chance. "When you sit at home on your butt all day, you realize education, your diploma, is the starting point of life," says Suarez. To help non-traditional students like Suarez succeed in an academic setting, Re-Engagement Center schools may impose cheap timberland mens boots special rules. For instance, at the three schools run by Excel Academy, there is a strict dress code. Students wear either black, gray or white shirts.

Each color gives students a status that restricts them from certain activities or grants them special privileges. Their behavior and grades determine which color they wear. But according to senior Push Morris, the rules and discipline, along with encouragement from faculty, help the Re-Engagement cheap timberland boots Center live up to its name. "Its early in the morning, theyre excited. Theyre like, 'Woo! Good job coming into school.' But at other schools, you dont see that, like actually standing outside welcoming you into the schools and stuff. So I feel its a great motivation to have in the morning." More than 4,300 students have felt that motivation since the program started in May 2008. It currently serves 2,200 students, and just opened a new school in North East Philadelphia to attract more Latinos, the ethnic group with the highest percentage of drop outs. According to Matthew Kass, director of Excel Academy Central, the secret behind these schools is the trust thats part of the student-teacher relationship."I know everything about them, and you know what, kids like that because a lot of the times in these comprehensive schools, these kids get lost in the shuffle," says Kass. "There is no accountability. We believe in accountability.

"For instance, if students are late to school, they may not go into their classroom and interrupt the womens timberland boots instruction for everyone else. They must spend that period outside, picking up trash around the school. Kass says with that philosophy and more programs like the Re-Engagement Centers, the nation can meet President Obamas goal of leading the worlds college graduation rate by 2020."Im not graduating students to the streets, and it is my commitment and my mission to make sure that they go to the next level," he says.Brandon Suarez is ready for the next level. The 20-year-old has been going to Excel Academy South since it opened its doors in September, and graduated in February. He plans to pursue a career as a firefighter. Seventy-seven of his 78 classmates graduated with him. And 85 percent of them have been accepted to post-secondary programs, moving them closer to achieving their dreams.