(Disclosure: Rose Law Group represents Goodwill of Central and Northern Arizona.)
By Madeleine Parrish | Arizona Republic
At 39, Edwond Villegas is preparing to attend high school at the same time as his daughter.
“She thinks it’s going to be hard,” he said of his daughter, who will be starting her freshman year of high school this August. “And I told her, ‘Don’t worry, daddy’s gonna be here going to school on the journey with you.’”
Villegas is entering his second year at the Excel Center, Arizona’s only in-person school for adults that grants accredited high school diplomas.
The Excel Center is a tuition-free public charter school open to anyone 18 and older regardless of the number of credits they need to earn their high school diploma. Its classes — algebra, geometry, pre-calculus, English language arts, history, biology, physical science, earth and space science — meet Arizona’s K-12 academic standards.
“They are full Arizona-standards-based classes that you would receive in a public high school, which adult students no longer have access to once they leave high school,” said Georgia Harris, the Excel Center’s vice president and superintendent.