For years, the Ombudsman Education Services in Lansing has operated from a small space inside of Waverly High School. In January, the Ombudsman Education Services celebrated the opening of its very own space in a storefront at 5433 W. Saginaw Hwy.
“All Ombudsman Education Services locations are located in storefront sites because it’s a great way for students to remove themselves from traditional classroom settings,” says Deonna Washington, site director of the Ombudsman Education Services in Lansing.
Ombudsman Education Services provides students who have trouble learning in traditional classroom settings an alternative educational setting.
Ombudsman Education Services classrooms are set near businesses so students can feel like they’re in a business environment and start thinking about their secondary education, Washington says.
“We’re in a location where businesses are all around us and it helps the students because they become aware of the public eye,” she says. “When you’re sheltered within a traditional high school, you don’t really have an opportunity to think about how you’re effected by the business community.”
There are more than 80 Ombudsman Education Services throughout the United States. More than 60 students attend the Lansing center.
“Teachers want to connect through innovative ways and they love to show the students technology,” Washington adds. “Now they can foster the two. Pretty much everything the students do is online through the computer programs. They get the same curriculum that they would get at a traditional high school. They just get it through the computer monitor.”
Source: Deonna Washington, Ombudsman Education Services
Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.
All Photographs © Dave Trumpie
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