Orlando Sentinel: Mall ‘high school’ blends learning, job skills

By Lauren Roth

In a spot wedged between a Marshalls and a trophy shop, about 30 students attend school in an outpost of the Florida Mall.

Their classes, which are paired with work at the mall or out in the community, are part of a little known but longstanding effort to graduate students while also giving them job skills. There are also sites at Universal Orlando and on the University of Phoenix campus in East Orlando.

On a recent afternoon, a student in a Chick-fil-A uniform and badge sat down in the back of a reading class that was already under way. The mall-based school operates flexible morning, afternoon and evening shifts to fit work schedules.

Continue to the full story at the Orlando Sentinel website.