Hope Harbor opens a new addition

Saturday, May 1st 2004, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Every school day, 35 Oklahoma students decide to drop out. Hope Harbor in Claremore is trying to help those students turn their lives around. Itâ€™s a residential school for at-risk teens.

Friday, they opened a new $2-million addition that will double the number of students they can help. One former resident says the Hope Harbor program changed her life.

At 15, Shannon Grodin says she had lost her mother, father, and grandmother, and was already using drugs and drinking. A year at Hope Harbor changed her life. She's now a college senior, hoping to earn a master's degree. "Its amazing that people can change and that there are people out there who really care and offer hope for a better future."

Students typically stay with the program for 12 to 18 months, and they usually make up 2 years worth of school work attending the program.