‘I really thought it was too late’: Riverhead’s North Star Academy made graduation possible

As Emily Gonzalez began her senior year at Riverhead High School, a sobering realization hit her: she probably wasn’t going to graduate.

More specifically, the Flanders resident simply didn’t have enough credits. She had failed too many classes and was chronically late or absent. Instead of being in school, she was often out with friends, making what she described as “poor decisions.” Her parents supported her as much as they could, she said, but she wasn’t putting in the effort.

Gonzalez’s parents even talked about signing the paperwork for her to drop out and start working full-time — but she never took that seriously. Not until they actually made the appointment.

“I really thought it was too late,” Gonzalez said. “There’s nothing I can do now.”

She had applied the year before to the North Star Academy — the high school’s program for students who fall behind in credits — but was waitlisted. Her guidance counselor raised the option again, but it was October, the school year had already begun, and the program was full. Still, her counselor urged her to email the program’s administrator anyway.

Gonzalez wrote to Dena Tishim, the high school’s assistant principal and the facilitator of North Star Academy. In her email, Gonzalez said she struggled in larger classrooms and believed a smaller program would help cut distractions. 

“The large environment of the high school is obviously not working for me,” Gonzalez wrote.

“I know that with more structure I can graduate and make my parents proud.” 

Gonzalez was listed for an interview, and Tishim invited her in to talk. When Tishim realized Gonzalez was close to dropping out, she decided to admit her. The next day, Gonzalez started in the program.

“It was pretty much, if we don’t do something, she’s gonna drop out,” Tishim said.

Gonzalez did not meet the criteria for a North Star student, Tishim said. Admitted students are typically required to have a decent attendance record — and Gonzalez’s attendance sheet “looked like a Christmas tree,” covered in scattered red and green dots.

Gonzalez was given one month to prove herself — and her motivation to graduate — through her attendance. 

“I needed to come in every day at seven in the morning, which I know for most people, it’s normal, it’s fine,” she said. “But for someone like me, who never showed up to school… probably woke up the earliest at like 11, it was hard.”

Maritza Santos, a social worker for the school district, helped keep Gonzalez in the program. She would call Gonzalez in the mornings if she wasn’t at school to make sure she got there before North Star started. She did the same for other students, too, she said.

“It was the consistency — they needed that consistency,” Santos said. “If I would have given up, she said I wouldn’t have come.”

North Star Academy provides smaller class sizes and tailored social-emotional support for students. They participate in daily peer study groups during lunch time and receive tutoring from Riverhead graduates who volunteer several days a week, Tishim said.

Launched in 2022, North Star was designed to complement traditional programs like summer school, helping students get back on track to graduate.

“The long-term goal of North Star is to grab everybody [behind] during their sophomore year or junior year, get them back on track, and then they come back in the building in their junior or senior year to finish it off with the rest of their cohort,” Tishim said.

Last school year, North Star enrolled 45 students; it has a capacity of 60, Tishim said. The program often has a long wait list, she said. In a February 2024 presentation to the school board, Tishim reported that roughly 227 students are behind in credits for their grade level and could benefit from the program. North Star focuses on admitting students “who are behind significantly,” she said.

Despite North Star’s reputation among some students as being for “bad kids,” Gonzalez said she found a community in her small class. She made friends and helped create a leadership club, which raised money to take a field trip to the Bronx Zoo. Gonzalez became the leadership club’s  treasurer. 

“We became like family, all of us,” she said.

She also found teachers who believed in her.

“There’s two teachers I could think of that were really patient with me, and I really appreciated that, too,” Gonzalez said. “They were really good to me, and if I didn’t understand anything, they would explain it over and over again and not get frustrated.”

Each student at North Star has a personalized goal sheet with a checklist for milestones in each class, Tishim said. Gonzalez needed that structure. She took nine classes in person and completed hundreds of online assignments to get credit for the 14 classes she had previously failed.

For Tishim, Gonzalez is a shining example of what North Star Academy can achieve for Riverhead students who fall behind. Tishim has referenced Gonzalez’s story at school board meetings, calling it one of “resilience, determination and the transformative power of education.”

“Emily needed everything — she needed the morning, she needed the lunch periods, she needed phone calls, she needed emails,” Tishim said. “But on the other end, she was showing us the motivation, which is what kept us going.”

This past January — a year and three months after that desperate email — Gonzalez became a Riverhead High School graduate.

“If I go back and think about it, I really didn’t think that I was gonna finish. I didn’t know what I was gonna do,” Gonzalez said. Now, she has her diploma and has made her parents proud, she said.

At a school board meeting in July, Tishim invoked Gonzalez’s name once again — this time to celebrate her new job with the school district. Gonzalez was hired as a special education aide, a job she was encouraged to apply for by the very staff members who pushed her to graduate.

“I love being here, even if sometimes I get a little overwhelmed,” she said of her new job.

She’s still figuring out what comes next — maybe college, maybe something else — but one thing is certain: she finished.

“It may be a little late, but it happened,” she said.

Gonzalez’s advice for students who have fallen behind like she did? Don’t be afraid to reach out for help.

“I want other students to know that it’s never too late,” she said. “Even when things seem impossible, they aren’t. Just keep going.”