BURBANK : Students Turn Lives Around and Graduate

Not long ago, Quondell Nixon was a teen-ager with little interest in school and a penchant for getting himself in trouble.

But Wednesday he was a standout among the 40 Monterey High School seniors who graduated in commencement ceremonies on the Walt Disney Studios lot in Burbank. In his last year of high school, Nixon had a perfect attendance record, a 3.5 grade-point average and the most credits earned in his class.

“When I first came to California from New Jersey last year, I was looking to put pieces of my life back together,” he said. “At Monterey, I was received with open arms and put to work immediately.”

The students of Monterey’s class of 1995 have divergent backgrounds. Some came to the school as teen-age mothers; some were poor students making last-ditch efforts to avoid becoming dropouts. Others were alienated by the crowds and social hierarchy of a traditional high school. But all had one thing in common--they credited the school’s personalized style of education with helping turn their lives around.

Tonisha Boyle, who said she transferred to Monterey so she could finish her diploma through the school’s program for teen-age mothers, said her teachers and administrators were “like a family” and helped her get through tough times.

“On a bad day, when I feel like I’m not going to make it and I’m not going to graduate, I walk into [Counselor Don Mangani’s] office and I cry on his shoulder, I pour my heart out to him,” she said.

Monterey officials said the key to the school’s success has been recognizing that its students are different from mainstream students, and encouraging them to be proud of their individuality.

The school operates on a year-round calendar and often has flexible schedules to allow students to hold day jobs. There are also other programs that suit special needs, such as parenting classes.

Principal Pamela Feix said Monterey teaches students to survive in “a uniform society with rules of order,” even though the students may choose to follow their own rules.

Disney has held the school’s commencement for the past three years.

The company has also been engaged in a corporate partnership with Monterey since 1989, in which students receive school credit for job training, and are sometimes hired after graduation, said T. J. Baptie, a Disney vice president.