OHIO — Since COVID, the state continues seeing an uptick in youth earning high school diplomas who are serving time at juvenile correctional facilities.

Amy Ast, Director of the Department of Youth Services, said one of the biggest challenges for youth in the system is that they’ve struggled a great deal with being successful in school.

“Some of these youth come to us and hadn’t been in school in a couple years,” Ast said. “Some of them come to us and they’ve been in school but just haven’t had an opportunity to feel like it could lead to something in their future.” 

Despite the challenges, Ast is excited because the department had an opportunity to celebrate youth returning to their communities, earning their GED and graduating from high school. 

“What was awesome about it is that we had family members there to help celebrate them,” she said. “Some youth that actually left our facility were released and came back with their families so they could walk in and be a part of the celebration and the graduation ceremony.”

Ast said judges who committed many of the young men to the Department of Youth Services also came back to see them graduate.

“Some of them even took an opportunity to present the youth with their high school diploma,” Ast said.

These successes are what Ast believes makes a great impact on their futures. This, as those that get a high school diploma or a GED are less likely to be re-incarcerated. To help keep the success going, Ast said they now work with high school graduates to prepare them for careers.

“We have some young men that have already started college courses. We have some young men that are attending their Ohio Means Jobs Centers every day in their facilities,” she said. “So far this year, we have youth that have completed 187 industry credential certificates, in addition to over 1300 skill certificates.”