THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 14, 1996 TAG: 9606140048
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 71 lines
SHANE T. WALCK dropped out of high school in 1994, halfway through his senior year. Then he got kicked out of the house; he slept for a few nights in his broken-down '65 Chrysler in his parents' driveway before moving in with some friends.
He applied for food stamps. A few weeks later he landed a minimum-wage job at a fast-food restaurant; he quit after a month. He thought about joining the Army, but a recruiter told him the Army could pick and choose from high school and college grads.
It didn't take Shane long to figure out he was going nowhere fast without an education.
``I just had a lot of time to think about the future,'' Shane said last week. ``The way I see it, if you want to do more than pay your bills, you've got to have at least a high school diploma.''
On Saturday, a year and a half after dropping out of Maury High, Shane will proudly don cap and gown and receive that diploma.
Shane, who turned 20 in May, is one of 33 students in the first graduating class of Norfolk Preparatory High School. The city School Board opened the evening school last fall to reach ex-high schoolers who quit school to go to work or after getting pregnant or, like Shane, simply grew tired of the regimented structure of regular day school.
The preparatory school, Shane said, offered him the best of two worlds: school and work.
During the day, he worked as a driver for Atlantic Ordnance & Gyro Co., a Norfolk ship repair and overhaul company, where he has been employed since last August. In the evenings, he attended classes to earn the 3 1/2 credits he needed to graduate from high school.
His schedule, though, was grueling. In the first semester, he took four classes - two English courses, a keyboarding class and a social studies class on Africa. He worked from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and attended school from 3:30 to 9:30 four nights a week. The second semester, he took geometry and attended class only twice a week.
Because he didn't have a car, he walked the eight blocks or so from work to classes at the Madison Career Center off Hampton Boulevard. He washed off the work grime and changed out of his coveralls in a school bathroom.
He made A's, except for a C in keyboarding.
``It was hard, but it had to get done,'' Shane said. ``I'm real proud of myself. I can't wait to walk.''
His diligence impressed school officials and his co-workers.
``He has the responsibility and the tenacity he needs to survive,'' said preparatory school principal Jacqueline Moore. ``He was quiet and went about his business. He was very focused.''
Ray Gowans, Shane's supervisor at Atlantic Ordnance, said: ``A lot of people drop out of school and never concern themselves with finishing their education - and most never do. That's a plus on his side. He's got a commendable attitude.''
Shane's change in thinking also helped him reconcile with his parents.
``I'm proud of him, especially since he's working a full job five days a week, and since he decided to go back on his own to do it,'' said his dad, Tom Walck. ``The friends he had known on the street were laughing at him for going back to school, and then he goes back the second semester, and there they were.''
For his part, Shane now hopes to enroll at Tidewater Community College. He saw a pamphlet about weekend courses he could take and still hold his job.
Eventually, he'd like to study engineering at Old Dominion University or Norfolk State. He's also thinking of a Navy career, or maybe he'll train to become an underwater welder.
With a diploma, the possibilities seem endless.
``I definitely feel like I'm on the right track now,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: LAWRENCE JACKSON
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