When it comes to tackling Bermuda's low high school graduation rates for young men, educator Trace White has a simple philosophy, 'Keep it Real'.

Mr. White took over the running of Impact Mentoring Academy, a school for young men, a few years ago.

"I returned from working in Europe about five years ago," said Mr. White. "I worked at Sandys Middle School for about a year. During that time I was shocked at what I saw in the classroom."

He became particularly concerned about the disaffection of many of the young men he worked with.

"I started to talk to some of my friends about having a thinktank particularly to address the problems of young guys," he said.

"I met someone who had a homeschool for boys in Sleepy Hollow called BASIC Academy. He offered me a job. He was from the United States and he was getting ready to go back, so he passed it to me."

Mr. White said he only wanted to work with young men, because he felt that was where there was greatest need. "Those are the ones who are falling through the cracks," he said. "It is not because they are unintelligent. Some of them have been frustrated in other learning environments because they can't get ahead. There are sometimes so many discipline problems in the classroom they can't work."

Mr. White is now administrative director of the school located on Clarendon Road in Smith's Parish.

The school, officially registered as a tutorial site, currently has a staff of five to cater to 14 students between the ages of 11 and 16-years-old.

"The recent statistics about graduation rates show that less than half of males that enter the public school system are graduating," said Mr. White. "This necessitates more intense interest and deliberate effort toward the development of these teenagers with regard to life skills, community engagement and career marketability."

Impact Mentoring Academy started as a home school with four students, and has evolved into a "charter school" type operation with the capacity for up to 20 students.

The school claims a 100 percent college placement rate. Of the two students who graduated last year, one is headed off to the Bermuda College in January and the other plans to go to Grenada to study veterinary science.

The school's attrition rate stands at about 20 percent, meaning that one out of every 10 students withdraws or is dismissed each year.

"We are not in competition with the conventional education system," said Mr. White. "We are just serving a very small minority of that very large group of young people on the Island in need of assistance.

"Our programme is built upon time-tested principles, our approach to education is holistic and value/relational based. It is also research-based.

"We have observed that a relationally rich environment with positive male mentors, tactile activities and integrated learning (also called "blended learning") serve as a catalyst to engage, motivate and develop the interest and potential resident in each young man."

Mr. White based many of his ideas for the school after teaching in Sweden, which has one of the best education systems in the world. Things borrowed from this included a focus on mentoring, frequent developmental discussions with the students, and establishing early what the student will do in life, if possible.

The school recently adopted charitable status, which they hope will help them, among other things, send their students on life-changing trips to places like Belize of Zambia.

"In our efforts to provide a well-rounded education we seek to network with other organisations which have vision and values similar to our own," said Mr. White. "If you are a part of such an organisation, please make contact with us so that we may engage in dialogue about how we can help one another."

Michael Lima, trades and enrolment officer at the school, can identify with a lot of the problems that the young men in the school face.

"I worked in construction all my life," said Mr. Lima. "I attended Sandys Secondary School and dropped out. I am also a recovering addict."

Eventually, he got himself cleaned up and became enrollment officer at the Mirrors Programme. This programme is an intensive intervention that focuses on transformation, personal development and performance coaching.

After nine months, he was hired to work at Impact Mentoring Academy.

Previously he had his own construction business with a staff of 13, but he felt that God was calling him to do something else. "God called me to work with young people," he said. "I grew up in a dysfunctional home with an alcoholic father. I started using drugs in school and dropped out.

"From doing the residential programme at Mirrors, they offered me a job," he said. "I met Trace along the way and we really connected. We had the same drive to work with young people. When I finished with Mirrors I started working here. It is about living with a purpose instead of just living."

He said as a kid, education was very difficult for him. His parents were Portuguese and didn't have much of an education themselves.

"My mother couldn't sign her own name," he said. "When I came home with homework my parents were clueless and my brothers and sisters had left the house at an early age. I was the youngest of four. I didn't do well. I had a lot of emotional problems at home. There was a lot of miscommunication at home. A lot of things got swept under the carpet. A lot of that caused confusion and pain."

But he felt that going through that made it easier to connect with the young men in the programme.

"We share our pain," he said. "The mentoring is the strong part of what we do. There are so many issues we have to deal with. Some of our students feel very inadequate. A lot of work goes in to getting them to believe in themselves.

"This is about unlocking their potential. It is about being real with them. Here we try not to be teacher and student. We come down and have real honest conversations here.

"The truth is they want to feel safe, and a lot of them don't feel safe.

"That is why a lot of them are acting out."

Mr. White said he didn't necessarily envision his school growing like Somersfield Academy, which also started in one room.

"Possibly we would have two sites, one east and one west with 20 students in each" he said. "I would like to see that the work we are doing here be transported to other educational systems. That is much more doable than us trying to be another one in the mix.

"Everything we are doing is research-based. Bermuda has a tendency to copy things from failing systems."

For more information, telephone Impact Mentoring Academy at 747-4621.

'You know that they care about you'

A typical student at Impact Mentoring Academy might be Shomari Simmons, 13.

He had an almost a perfect score in standardised language testing, but was doing poorly in the classroom.

In short, Shomari was bored.

"My mother was thinking it was because the work they were doing was not at my level," said Shomari.

His parents decided to send him to Impact Mentoring Academy. The school operates multi-grade classes where each student functions on an individualised educational plan at their own pace.

"Here you take a diagnostic on the computer," said Shomari. "Based on that diagnostic, they give you work to your level. I am doing a lot better. I am finding it challenging and I really like it."

He said in the mainstream classroom he often had to compete with 20 to 25 other students for the teacher's attention.

"There are so many people in the public and private schools that you can't talk to the teachers one-on-one," he said.

"If the teacher is teaching at a seventh grade math level and you don't understand it, you can ask the teacher and he will tell you. But if you still don't understand the teacher will go on, because he has to teach at that grade level. Here, you are learning at your own level. We can go at our own pace. If you have any problems you can talk to Mr. (Michael) Lima or Mr. White and they will sit here and talk to you until you understand."

Shomari dreams of becoming a shark expert. In addition to his regular school work, he takes classes with the Centre for Talented Youth. He had to take the Scholastic Achievement Test (SAT) to qualify for that programme.

Another student at the school, Tyler Wilson, 16, has been with Impact for three years.

"I like the one-on-one teaching," said Mr. Wilson.

"You have more time to understand the work. Here, you work at your own pace and you get more understanding."

Tyler was previously in a private school. At his previous school he wasn't progressing as fast as he wanted.

"My goals are to finish highschool and go to Virginia Tech," he said. "My favourite subject is definitely social studies."

He said that Impact Mentoring Academy brought him a new understanding of himself.

"I have also learned about presenting myself, and how to show my true potential," he said. "It is not so much like teacher to student, but man to man. You know that they care about you."

"The premise of Impact Mentoring Academy is that the curriculum can and should be configured to the individual as much as possible without abandoning the academic fundamentals and that young men thrive when they have clearly defined rites of passage into manhood," said Mr. White.

"Hence, our emphasis upon mentoring relationships."

Part of the programme involves learning skills that the students might be able to use to support themselves later on, whether it be their livelihood, or a way to support themselves through college.

These skills include things like house painting, and carpentry.

For several years, Samuel Bean, 16, has been working in a local law firm.

The law firm was so impressed, they hired him to work during the summer and during breaks.

"I think I am going to have an edge on those who haven't seen the law field," Samuel said. "I have seen the things the lawyers do in court, and watched them handle certain cases. I enjoy it there. I was there at mid-term break, so it is a good experience."

He said there is a lot of character building that goes on at the school.

"First thing every morning we go through devotions," he said. "This is about telling you how to be a good man in society and the community. It is about building your character from different perspectives."

One life changing experience for Samuel was going to Belize last summer with a group of other Impact students to help build a children's church.

"The poverty took your breathe away," he said. "It was eye opening. I have my home, but they are living out of shacks.

"The work ethic out there was pretty good. We got a good bit of work done, and I brought back a much better appreciation of what we have here."

George Cook, 16, interns with Steve Easton's Just Platinum Studios on a weekly basis.

He hopes to one day work in music production.

"I was told about the programme from a friend who is here," he said.

"I was at a private school before. I feel that I couldn't reach my full potential at my old school. I was being held back.

"I am hoping to start learning piano soon. At Just Platinum Studios I have gotten a lot of advice. I am learning how to use certain equipment."

George is currently working towards his General Education Diploma (GED).