Josh Gibson tried to attend middle school the day after his father died unexpectedly from a heart attack, but, understandably, he could not focus on his schoolwork. The then 12-year-old Decatur, Ga., boy barely made it through his first class before bursting into tears. The teacher sent him home.
That day only seemed to foreshadow what would, for many years, become of his educational career. Gibson slumped into a deep depression, and before long the former A student was skipping school regularly. His grade point average plummeted below 2.0—an unfortunate trend that followed him as he bounced around to six different schools.
By the time he’d emerged from the fog of sadness, Gibson found himself involuntarily withdrawn from high school due to chronic tardiness. He resumed that his dream of attending college would remain just that—an elusive dream.
“I was actively depressed, and I didn’t want to go to school,” recalls Gibson, now 22. “I thought I’d messed up my chance to go to college forever.”
That all changed five years ago when Gibson enrolled in the Gateway to College Academy on the Clarkston campus of Georgia Perimeter College (GPC), a community college just outside Atlanta. The academy helps students like Gibson get back on track by helping them simultaneously earn both high school and college credits. Many eventually graduate with enough credits to transfer into GPC or other colleges as sophomores.
“I liked that [the staff] had the confidence in me that I could do it,” says Gibson, now a junior psychology major at Clayton State University. He plans to pursue master’s and doctorate degrees and then settle into a career in social work or psychology.
“I liked the constant support and the fact that they won’t tolerate any nonsense. If I were to be dramatic, I’d say that the program saved my life.”
