A teenager who was kicked out of the public education system has graduated from an alternative school after dramatically transforming his life.

Nikki Bascome, 16, did what few people thought he could — he graduated with his General Education Diploma (GED), alongside peers Psauto Eve, Roger Lightbourne Jr. and Mychal Evans. The Royal Gazette sat down with Nikki before the big day and he admitted being “proud” and “excited” of the accomplishment.

Nikki, who had been kicked out of Spice Valley Middle School and CedarBridge Academy as a youngster for his behaviour, was transferred to The Educational Centre (TEC) fulltime in 2004. He said: “My behaviour was kind of jacked up — I didn’t care at the time. I would fight, use bad language, that kind of stuff — I didn’t do my school work, so I got sent to TEC”.

TEC is a programme for students who have “exhausted the possibilities within the education system”, explained Director, Declan Harris, adding: “We are expected to perform the miracles”.

The alternative school deals with behaviour management and offers students core subjects, in addition to “fast forword” a literacy based computer programme and “arise” a social skills/ life skills class. Classes at TEC are much smaller, with no more than eight students and have both a teacher and teacher’s assistant on staff.

When Nikki first joined the school, Mr. Harris describes him as being “disruptive”, “belligerent” and “nasty”; someone who didn’t want to be there, didn’t come to school very often and who was more interested in having fun than learning.

Mr. Harris has been amazed with the transformation he has seen in the teen and said: “I can’t even describe the change its like night and day. He came to school on a regular basis, was focused, and took full advantage of the services that were there”.

The big change, however, didn’t come for Nikki until last year when he went to Cuba on a school trip.

He said said: “When I went out there I realised that there are other people in the world that are in messed up situations too. It made me realise that if I want something in life I have to get it for myself.

“Education wise they take it real serious out there, so when I came back I realised I need to take my education more seriously too,” he said.

He attributes part of his success to the teachers at TEC, particularly Lucinda Worrell-Stowe. He said: “I know guys who are still in that mentality like ‘I don’t care’, but teachers (there) still don’t give up on you. They care — the teachers really care about you. If they didn’t they would have been home or found another job”.

In addition to working with Nikki and other students inside the classroom, Mrs Worrell-Stowe, the life skills teacher at TEC, admits she has worked to get jobs for some of the students, in situations where no one would hire them, has offered afternoon classes to help the students get their bike licences and has always been willing to talk with the students about their “growing-pains”.

She said: “A child will not let you help them unless they realise you care. We can’t sit back with these kinds of children 9 to 5. We need to put in more than 100% to change these boy’s lives.

“We can’t give up on any child because if we do we will miss out on the Nikki Bascome’s and Psauto Eve’s — you can’t just throw children away,” she said.

When asked about her feelings on the graduation, she said: “I am pleased. You watch them work for this. You watch them buckle down and achieve something they thought they couldn’t achieve. I think all the staff have to be very pleased to see them graduate out of TEC. I mean that they came there and did something positive.

“The GED is a positive thing— it’s a starting point,” she said, adding: “when they make a positive effort to do the right thing then positive things happen for them”.

In addition to his GED, Nikki now has a full-time job at Bermuda Air Conditioning (BAC) as well as a part time job on the weekends. Judy Munro, the Human Resources Manager at BAC commended the changes she has seen in the teenager and said: “I wish him all the best in his future because I really feel he’s going to make something good of his life.

Nikki will also be heading to St. Martin this morning to represent Bermuda in a boxing tournament.

On top of everything, Nikki was also awarded a scholarship to Bermuda College and an airline ticket to New York on behalf of American Airlines last night.

Premier, Dr. Ewart Brown and Minister of Education, Randy Horton are among those expected to have attended the graduation ceremony, which took place yesterday at 6.30 p.m.

“I am happy right now— things are flowing well right now. I want to keep my granny happy and Mrs. Worrell-Stowe happy because they did a lot of things for me,” he said.

When asked what advice Nikki would give to teens like him trying to turn their lives around, he said: “My advice I would give them is if you are in a situation where you need help and somebody is willing to help you, use their help— don’t be afraid to take the opportunity.

“It’s up to you to change your behaviour.”

How Nikki changed his life around