Students who leave Noble Academy (a grades 2-12 school for students with learning differences) take with them the tools to choose their own unique pathways. Some go straight to college, some go straight to career, some join a branch of the military, or an apprenticeship. Listen to past students, parents, and teachers share an array of Noble success stories.
GAYLE:
I have said it before, but you just need to talk to past Noble Academy students to see how we live up to our mission, which is to empower students with learning differences to reach their full potential in a supportive learning environment. As you will hear in this episode, our graduates leave our campus with the tools to choose their own unique pathways. Some go straight to college, some go straight to career, some join a branch of the military, or an apprenticeship.
Greg:
My classmates went in a lot of different directions. One became a college basketball coach, another a firefighter and wrestling coach. A couple of us, including myself, are now in finance. We're really all over the place.
GAYLE:
That is Greg Bristol, whose journey included public school, boarding school, Noble Academy, and then earning a college degree online. He and I spoke at length about his belief that Noble was a turning point that helped him build a great future, and what follows is just a brief portion of my conversation with him.
Greg:
I am definitely proud to be Noble. Coming in, I had a very different outlook on what life after high school would be like. I wasn't planning on furthering my education. But with the push and confidence I gained at Noble, I ended up going to college and now work in finance, which I never would have imagined.
I spent time at public schools, where I met with their college counseling group once in two years. The difference at Noble was the hands-on approach they took with each application, from college tours to addressing any special questions or accommodations.
Mrs. Payne, really pushed me. I remember one parent-teacher conference where she was ecstatic that I was finally realizing I could succeed in school after Noble. My parents, who hadn't seen that side of me before, were so happy. Noble also provided great opportunities for college visits and interview preparation. They guided us through the application process but didn't push us in any particular direction. We were free to pursue what we felt was important to us.
I started working in finance about two years ago with no background or licenses. I just dove in. After a lot of studying, I'm now a licensed broker, assisting high-net-worth clients.
GAYLE:
Another Noble graduate who chose college is Ryan Taube, Class of 2010, who is one of several alums who have gone on to work in education in one way or another.
RYAN:
So I went to Greensboro College for undergrad, and I got a bachelor's in special education. And I taught k twelve special ed, and then I actually moved into higher education. So I went and got a master's degree, from North Carolina Central University in Durham, North Carolina. And I got a master's of arts in career counseling and placement. And so, then I transitioned to a full time role, at Averett University, which is a small private school in Danville, Virginia. And I worked in their career center. And then I transitioned to a role in career services at Winston Salem State University, Winston Salem. And currently, I'm at Elon University, working in their career center within the school of communications. So, I kinda found my place in higher education, and I really enjoy it. I really am able to help students find opportunities, whether it's internships or entry level roles. And I'm able to work with our career advisers who work with students on a daily basis and share with them about opportunities. It's funny. I just went to Baltimore the other week, and then one of our career advisors had a student who was coming in looking for opportunities in Baltimore. And so, I was able to talk with her about what he was looking for and some of the companies I met with. And so just kinda comes full circle even though I'm not, most of the time, not directly working with students, more on that employer relations side, but still able to to help students find opportunities.
GAYLE:
What about the successes of graduates who didn’t earn college degrees?
BECCA:
My name is Rebecca Bleley. I came to Noble Academy midway through my 10th grade year and graduated in 2017. Looking back, I can honestly say that Noble changed the course of my life. Before transferring, I was on track to become a high school dropout. My love for school, which started at an early age, had faded by 9th grade.
One of the highlights of my time at Noble Academy was a senior internship. We were encouraged to explore careers and I chose to be activity director at a nursing home. I have always had a passion for working with the elderly. That experience ended up shaping my future in ways I couldn't imagine.
After Noble Academy, I went on to Greensboro College. While I made good grades and even landed on the Dean’s list, I realized college wasn't the right path for me. Instead, I pursued a certification as an activities director, which set me up for a full-time job that I truly loved.
Michelle:
Hi. I'm Michelle Malloy. My son attended Noble Academy starting in the 6th grade, and then he graduated from Noble in 2018.
I look back, and I may have pushed a 4-year school too hard and too quickly thinking that if he took a break for a year, he might not go back or, that there may not have been other career opportunities if he didn't go to college. I'd gone to college, had a graduate degree. So that was just kind of, again, letting go of my own assumptions and beliefs about what success looks like. I probably pushed too hard and should have not.
He's been working for a plumbing company for a number of years now and, you know, doing all the apprenticeship that's required. And, he seems really happy. And I think he seems not only happy, but I think he sees, again, a long term future in the field. I think he sees that there's potential.
He even talks about one day potentially owning his own plumbing company. And I never would have necessarily have thought that that was a possibility. So I do think confidence in how you define success, letting go of your own assumptions about what success is, like, you know, we as parents, but letting the the kids figure that out more themselves and trying to be supportive of that and then helping them explore all of the possibilities that are out there, I think that's tremendously helpful, and I I feel like Noble was really supportive in that. I still think about if Zachary had gone to our public high school. I don't I don't think that any of that necessarily would have been possible.
GAYLE:
I learned about an impressive number who have started their own businesses, both in Greensboro and elsewhere. This was first pointed out to me by Susan Hughes, who taught English at Noble Academy for 29 years, starting when it was Guilford Day School.
SUSAN:
I have had a number of our students go into their own business. They know that some of their issues are, you know, getting things done in a way that's a supervisor or another person, expects, but sometimes they have difficulties with that. So, I mean, we do teach them how to advocate, but, obviously, it would be easier for some of our kids to be their own boss if they could be organized enough. So, we're talking about kids with ADHD who have standard issues in, you know, timelines and, you know, having their check off list of things to do, and they start their own businesses.
I've seen so many students blossom and flourish from some aspect of what we do here that I could probably give you a, you know, 250 examples.
I I think of one student who is now, in his forties, late forties, who arrived at the Guilford Day School in, his high school years just kind of lost in a lot of different ways and a little bit rebellious, a little bit, you know, I'm gonna do my own thing. And he was a little bit resistant to the fact that teachers really wanted to know him and walk with him and teach him in a way that was gonna make a difference. But by the time he graduated, I mean, a lot of his habits and things like that and his perspective about some things had not changed, but he knew that he was able to go out and do anything he wanted to do. And that changed his whole perspective. You know, you look at your life differently as a teenager, and graduating from high school is like a really scary thing. And if you haven't felt that, okay, now I'm prepared to do what I wanna do, it's even more scary. So, he did some years in college. He did some different jobs, but he ended up in one particular job where he rose to the top. He actually received a national award and was written up in the New York Times.
Susan:
And, he he now has he and his wife and daughter are, I'm on the I serve on the board with them of the organization that they are starting that's a pay what you can restaurant where they're reaching out to the food insecure in their area, in Eastern North Carolina and it's, you know, when you when you met a child coming into your classroom who had no particular direction and no particular, dreams and goals and you watch them through their life excelling and succeeding and being a happy and fulfilled person and then they turn around and decide they wanna give some of that back to the community, that's pretty special.
GAYLE
Success doesn’t look like just one thing, and I have enjoyed talking to alums who feel happy and successful in ways they do not measure by their careers. They gained a lot of intangibles at Noble, including executive functioning skills, confidence, teamwork, and friendship. If you haven’t listened to our previous episodes this season, I hope you will, because those themes are woven throughout this series. And I hope you will come back again next week, because we have many more Noble stories to tell.