teen4Patrick is a typical 16 year-old teen who enjoys singing and listening to music. He is enrolled in San Diego High School and participates in school activities such as Varsity Cheer Squad. But just a year ago, his life wasn’t as normal.

At age 15, Patrick entered Toussaint Academy in May 2015. Several months before his arrival, he had been living with his mother, exposed to family violence. Eventually, his mother asked him to leave the house.

From his mom’s house, Patrick spent about 7 months couch-surfing from friend to friend, but ultimately, had no place to call home. He had entered 9th grade, but had only attended a total of 30 days during the entire year as a result of the difficulties he had at home and his homelessness. Patrick was not even enrolled in school when he entered Toussaint Academy.

Since it was the end of the current school year, Patrick was enrolled in summer school to help him with credit recovery, and to get him back into the habit of going to school.

For the most part, the strategy worked. However, this past school year, Patrick was taking Physics and was really struggling with it, getting a D grade. Fortunately, C2 Education had started coming on site here at Toussaint and Patrick was assigned a tutor. Two times a week, Patrick met with his C2 science and math tutor, which has helped him bring his grad up to an “A.” Since coming to Toussaint and returning to school, Patrick has gone from a 1.0 GPA to a 3.5 GPA!

C2 Education is a company that offers tutoring services and has different locations throughout the nation. Although, they are a for-profit company, they are offering their services for free to the residents at Toussaint. Even with our limited experience, we’ve seen what C2 can do for our youth. Patrick is a prime example.

Today, Patrick plans to take an SAT course through C2 Education and work on his grades so he can attend UC Berkeley next year. Through diligent effort and help from Toussaint and C2, Patrick aspires to go to college and become an attorney.

Want to help more teens like Patrick? Consider a gift today!