 For some students the question what to do for a career can be a loaded question. Students at Cass Lake Beena, many of which may be the first in their families to go to college, are getting extra help getting there. Teachers at the school have implemented many strategies to guide the students in every grade as Mal Meyer reports for this week's Golden Apple. The high school was named an initial priority school in 2012 by the Minnesota Department of Education. Priority schools are the 5% most persistently low performing Title I schools in the state based on testing proficiency, growth, achievement gap reduction and graduation rates. We've ascended from that. The district took swift action becoming a reward school in 2014 for improvements in these areas. But I think this staff and the students understand here that we don't want to settle for just improvement. We want to continue to make gains every year and I think that's happened. One of the things they're looking to improve is their graduation rate. In 2015 the four year graduation rate was at 74.2% up by about 11% over the prior year. For a small school we have lots of opportunities. Through AP courses and project lead the way which provide college credit teachers are giving the students a taste of their post-grad studies. Families that have never had a student be in college have 9th graders, 10th graders and on up earning college credits while they're here. Maddie White is preparing to take the ACT test in the spring through the school. She'll need good scores in order to get into her pick of the twin cities. Both practice tests are helping me to figure out what I need to work on to get a better score. Sydney Foster is planning on going to UND Grand Forks with a major in speech pathology. She says staff has been very supportive through the application process. They're always trying to help you get to that next step of like scholarships, a FAFSA, anything that you need, they're there to help you. For some of the students they're holding out for their careers course to get a better understanding of the opportunities that lie ahead. I was going to make my decision later on in the year when I get into like careers classes and AP stuff. The teachers hope that projects like these help inspire the students for their post-grad ventures. In Cass Lake, I'm Mal Meyer, Lakeland News. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax deductible contribution to Lakeland Public Television.