Featured Life Skills Center of Summit County graduate

When Ashley Armbruster moved back to Ohio from Florida as a freshman in high school, she chose to attend Life Skills Center of Summit County so she could work more to support her father.

She hasn't looked back.

Armbruster, a Norton resident who will turn 19 on Dec. 23, is expected to graduate in January from the school.

"I like the teachers there," she said. "They were great to me. If I needed anything, they were always there. I used to be picked on, especially by the teachers. But Life SKills teachers cared about my education and that I came. That kept me at Life Skills. It helped improve my grades. I was an average student in middle school, but at Life Skills never got below a B."

She said the teachers helped her at the school.

"It was great," Armbruster said. "It wasn't overwhelming. They talked to you about real-life scenarios and opened our eyes. They made you look at real-life. At 16, it was a good thing to be taught responsibility. A lot of kids need that."

"When she came here, it was straight from the middle school," said Nick Rossler, a teacher at the school. "She stuck through it and finished all of her credits here. She has a great personality and she went the extra mile to make sure the assignments were done and done right. She communicated well with her parents and they supported her."

After graduation, she plans to work full-time at a daycare and earn enough money to buy a laptop and take online college classes in psychology.

"I've been through a lot in my life," Armbruster said. "I want to help others (who are going through the situation) since I've been through this before."