How do you keep Elmira’s Mennonite students engaged in school, while simultaneously giving them a chance to meaningfully support their families and gain workplace skills? That was the question behind the creation of Elmira Secondary School’s ELAWS program 25 years ago, and they’ve been answering it consistently ever since.
“At the beginning, I think the first year was about three kids around a kitchen table, and then by the time I started 19 years ago it was just starting to really take off,” head teacher Jeff Martin told The Observer of the Elmira Life and Work Skills alternative program.
“By then the word was getting out, and we would’ve had about 40 students.”
