Carolyn Sheehan, director of the Blackstone Academy Charter School, oversees the morning community meeting in the cafeteria, a daily gathering of all students and staff members where student achievements are celebrated. The Providence Journal / Bill Murphy

PAWTUCKET

Daniel F. Goncalves graduates from high school this afternoon, an accomplishment his family, former teachers, truant officer and even he doubted would ever happen.

Daniel skipped most of his first three years of high school.

He was repeatedly suspended.

He spent four months in a group home for troubled youths.

He came close to dropping out.

But the educators at Blackstone Academy Charter School refused to doubt him.

Midway through his sophomore year at Shea High School, in Pawtucket, Daniel transferred to the publicly financed charter school, which offers small classes and personal attention and has built a reputation for turning around struggling students.

Daniel, 17, says Blackstone Academy is the reason he received an A in precalculus this year and is receiving his diploma today. This fall, he will attend a one-year college transition program at Brandeis University on a full, $48,000 scholarship.

“I want to say I’ve made a difference in my own life, because I have tried. But in the end, it’s the people in my life who have made the difference,” Daniel said Tuesday, one of the last days of his senior year. He listed the names of the charter school’s two directors, the debate team coach, his adviser and his friends.

“Toward the end of junior year, there was a meeting, and I saw all of these people doing all this work just so I could get educated,” he said. “The little pride I have inside of me would not let me drop out after I saw how much this school cares.”

Daniel was on the school’s debate team this year, an activity that helped keep him in school. A math whiz, he hopes to become a math teacher, engineer or doctor.

For most of Blackstone’s 23 graduating seniors, the path to this day has been difficult. About 75 percent of them arrived at the school unable to read, write or do math at a ninth-grade level. The school, which takes students from Central Falls and Pawtucket, has a high number of students living in poverty — 78 percent of its 155 students qualify for free or reduced lunch.

Members of the Class of 2008 have endured the death of a parent, the loss of childhood friends to gun violence, physical and sexual abuse, parents in jail and severe mental-health problems in their families. One of the graduates is visibly pregnant. Another was homeless for a time.

Yet out of the 23 seniors who will receive their diploma today, 20 plan to attend college or some form of post-secondary education this fall.

AMONG THEM is Chantaya Costa, 18, of Pawtucket, the first graduate of the six-year-old charter school to make it to the Ivy League. This fall, Chantaya will attend Brown University, where she plans to study neuropsychology and Spanish. Thanks to a four-year scholarship package, Chantaya will be able to attend Brown without incurring any student-loan debt.

A top student at her previous high school, Chantaya transferred to Blackstone for her junior and senior years. It took her a while to adapt to the school’s “unconventional” approach. Students call teachers by their first name. The day starts with a school-wide meeting in the cafeteria, where student accomplishments are celebrated by everyone. A typical class size is 15. Students are required to present a portfolio of their work each of their four years.

“The bond the teachers have with students you will never find anywhere else,” Chantaya said. “In larger schools, teachers don’t have the time to get to know you personally. This school does and the classes challenge you emotionally. They don’t give us busywork here. Everything has a meaning behind it.”

The most recent high school graduation-rate information, for the Class of 2007, noted that just half of the 76 students who found their way to Blackstone at some point since 2003 made it to graduation day. But Carolyn Sheehan, school director and one of its founders, says several of the students included in the 2007 rate came to Blackstone as a last resort, after running into serious problems at traditional high schools. Some left Blackstone after just a few weeks or months. In addition, Blackstone held back 13 percent of the Class of 2007, giving students more time to meet academic standards, and another 8 percent were directed to GED programs.

This year’s class is the third to graduate from the school. Of the previous 60 graduates, about 50 of them went on to higher education, and school officials are trying to keep in touch with alumni to track their progress in college.

“We expect the graduation-rate number to increase in future years,” Sheehan says. “We don’t want to lose a single student.”

The school’s mission, she says, is to take in urban students who are struggling in traditional schools and prepare them for college and the work world.

Starting as early as ninth grade, Blackstone students are taken on tours of college campuses, and teachers emphasize the importance of post-secondary education. Every sophomore and junior takes the PSAT, and every senior is required to take the SAT. Students receive waivers for the test fees.

“Most of our students are the first in their families to attend college,” Sheehan says.

Teachers help students navigate financial aid, find programs and colleges that fit their needs, and apply. Many times teachers have to convince students they can make it.

Sheehan heard about the Brandeis transitional year and kept prodding Daniel to apply. If he succeeds, he can attend Brandeis or apply to other four-year colleges.

Megan Lefort, 18, told her teachers she wasn’t college material. Her grades weren’t great and she was distracted by responsibilities at home. Both of her parents have chronic health problems, and her job at Home Depot took up a lot of time.

This year, she buckled down, she says, and turned her grades around. Through art and music classes, she discovered she loved photography and learned how to play the drums. And she started thinking about her future.

She applied to Rhode Island College and was accepted. Financial aid will allow her to live on campus.

“I think it was a lot of classes, really every class, where everyone just kept saying, ‘You have to go to college,’ ” Megan said. “You deserve to go to college.”

The graduates are:

Scott Alves
Santiago Alvizures
Michael Camara
Matthew Capron
Kenneth Carrier
Chantaya Costa
Trudy Crespo
Sandra Fortes
Jackelin Garcia
Daniel Goncalves
Jacqueline Henao
Megan Lefort
Jason Levesque
Christopher Lopes
Joshua Lopes
Denelle Moore
Michael Murphy
Stephanie Ortiz
Ryan Patnaude
Lisa Perez
Deborah Reyes
Liette Velasco
Katlyn Wheeler