The Crossing School of Business and Entrepreneurship does more than just educate students. That’s the message CEO Rob Staley shared last week during the faith-based alternative high school’s fall fund-raising banquet in Knox.
He said The Crossing aims to take on a parental role for students recovering from drug addiction or criminal histories, as well as those who simply struggled in traditional public schools. “We’re focusing not necessarily on a skill set,” Staley said. “We don’t necessarily go, ‘You’re going to be a welder and you’re going to be a sewer’ or whatever the case may be. But we do focus on 10 soft skills and we say, ‘Look, if we can teach you the basic soft skills in your business model and we know that you can be at work on time – what if you can just get to work on time? That’s a big deal. What if you just show up for work every day? What if you can take a directive? What if you can self-initiate? What if you’re a team player?”
At the Crossing’s Knox location, students are tasked with running a business of refurbishing and selling furniture. Staley says it’s just one of over 30 student-run businesses throughout The Crossing’s system. However, he says the school’s mission involves supporting students and their families through difficult times, as well. “We have buried 21 students in the last 13 years,” Staley said. “And when I say ‘bury’ I mean we buried them. I mean the parents call and say, ‘What do we do? My son’s dead. He’s at the funeral home. Who’s going to bury him? We don’t have any money. How much does it cost to cremate?’ I can tell you exactly what it costs to cremate, what it costs for a cheap casket. We can tell you everything because that’s what we do, because we are the family.”
He adds that last year, 20 of the Crossing’s students were charged with crimes involving handguns. Still, he says the school is seeing success in many areas, with 85 percent of its 2016 graduates currently working, in the military, or furthering their education. Looking ahead, Staley hopes to boost the school’s support of its former students who are still struggling. “They end up coming back from jail when they’re 25 and 26 and 27 years old,” he says. “And they walk in and then they knock on the door and go, ‘Hi, this is my family and I’m back. What do we do now?’ So now we try to figure out how we’re starting to provide adult programming, adult services in the same way that we’re doing this because once you’re a part of the family, you’re always a part of the family.”
During last week’s fundraiser, Staley also touted the program’s economic benefits, noting the high cost of youth incarceration. In all, he says The Crossing’s enrollment is at about 2,000 students, at 25 campuses in parts of Indiana and Michigan.
