Dear Editor,

My name is Dynasty Winters and I am a student at Southeast Raleigh High School. For a lot of students including myself, school started Monday. U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan says North Carolina is taking classroom performance to a new level through its early childhood education programs, efforts to improve graduation rates and K-12 reforms. Not only will education programs improve graduation rates but school-based health centers can as well. If a child isn’t physically or emotionally healthy they will not learn. According to the N.C. Comprehensive Assessment for Tracking Community Health (2005) 10 percent of N.C. adolescents have a chronic illness. School-based health centers provide physical and mental health services on school campuses to improve student health status, and help student academic success. Research shows that school-based health centers increase educational success by providing medical and mental health care that allows students to stay in school and learn. By having a school-based health center the graduation rates in North Carolina will increase.

Dynasty Winters