Story about Columbus Southeast graduate

A desire to graduate and get a high school diploma drove Sherrick Echols
off the couch and to Life Skills Center of Columbus North.

"I had dropped out of school," he said. "It wasn't important to me. But
I wanted to graduate and get that diploma, so I went back to school."

Echols, 20, of Columbus, has attended the school for 18 months.

"The teachers here helped me out better than a (traditional public
schools," he said. "They were there for me. The smaller classes helped
me get more attention."

"He started off kind of slow, but in the last three months he got
serious, quit playing and blew everything away," said enrollment
specialist Jordonna Wood. "It finally clicked in his head."

Wood said Echols' attitude toward education had progressed from apathy
to happiness.

"He was excited when he passed his OGT's," she said. "he went screaming
down the hallway."

After graduation, Echols plans to attend massage therapy school and
eventually attend college to study sports therapy.