http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=6759186&version...
ST. PAUL – "Look at today, this is the second graduating class. We're
making history here." Steven Yang is one of 90 graduates, priding
themselves on their high school graduation Thursday night, something
that once seemed impossible to some.
The St. Paul charter school that focuses on Hmong traditions while
preparing youth for college, is now celebrating the gradation of its
second class of students.
Three years ago, Susan Vang was expelled from school. "I was failing
and there were months and months that I just wouldn't go to school at
all."
In her sophomore year, she came to the Hmong Academy, and now she’s
graduating. "It changed everything. I'm getting good grades, I'm in
school, I'm graduating and I'm going to college."
The Hmong Academy is not only a success story for Susan. Most of the
students are low-income and speak English as a second language. Across
the state, Asian Minnesotans graduated at a 67-percent rate, while at
Hmong Academy, the percent of students that graduate is 94-percent in
2008.
