Cornwall Alternative School is celebrating their first graduating class in its 53-year history.

What started decades ago as a downtown tutoring program run by social workers now stands as a school that helps kids who deal with significant barriers in the traditional education system.

Cornwall’s principal, Andrew Irwin-Pasloski, says, “If you can think of any reason for a student not succeeding in mainstream school, they come here. We have lots of behaviour issues, addiction, trauma, lots of mental health issues — you name it, we see it here.”

The graduation highlights not only the student’s academic achievements, but the impact that prioritizing Indigenous education in a curriculum can have, as 90 per cent of Cornwall’s students come from First Nations, Metis, and Inuit backgrounds.

Irwin-Pasloski added, “Honestly, just with us getting Grade 12, it provides students with hope. Now we don’t necessarily have to transition students out, and we can really focus on raising those graduation rates of Indigenous students.”

One of the graduating students, Angelina Peigan, hopes to become a nurse, saying she feels called to help others because she’s been given help.

“I’m so excited and I hope I make Cornwall Alternative proud with my career and my future.”