Gateway School

Teens discover new paths Two pyramidal heaps of stone at the entrance mark the start of the winding pathway. They also mark fresh beginnings for the students who have toiled for weeks in the dirt and mulch. The students at the Gateway School in Westminster - an alternative school for middle- and high-school students serving extended suspensions or struggling with learning disabilities or behavioral and emotional problems - acknowledge that at first they whined about having to get their hands and shoes dirty.

With much pomp and circumstance, they held a commencement yesterday at Gateway School in Northwest Baltimore. And for only three graduates. The pomp: robes and mortarboards, processions and recessions, songs and honors for the graduates, camera-toting parents, balloons, more than a few tears of joy. The circumstance: One graduate, Darius Roberts, 10, was honored for having learned to control his emotions and to read a few words. Kevin Thomas, 11, was praised for overcoming the turmoil of a rare disorder that causes him to eat compulsively.

The stage - if you can call a patchwork of six-inch risers a stage - was set up in the school's "gymteria," a room that is part gymnasium, part cafeteria. A computer cart covered with a white paper tablecloth served as a diploma table. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the colors of caps and gowns worn by the graduates. But none of that mattered. The hundreds of parents and cousins, aunts and uncles, siblings, teachers and counselors who crowded into the Gateway School on Tuesday night came for one reason: to see 24 students - many of whom never expected to make it through high school - receive diplomas.

The stage - if you can call a patchwork of 6-inch risers a stage - was set up in the school's "gymteria," a room that is part gymnasium, part cafeteria. A computer cart covered with a white paper tablecloth served as a diploma table. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the colors of caps and gowns worn by the graduates. But none of that mattered. The hundreds of parents and cousins, aunts and uncles, siblings, teachers and counselors who crowded into the Gateway School on Tuesday night came for one reason: to see 24 students - many of whom never expected to make it through high school - receive diplomas.

The stage - if you can call a patchwork of six-inch risers a stage - was set up in the school's "gymteria," a room that is part gymnasium, part cafeteria. A computer cart covered with a white paper tablecloth served as a diploma table. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the colors of caps and gowns worn by the graduates. But none of that mattered. The hundreds of parents and cousins, aunts and uncles, siblings, teachers and counselors who crowded into the Gateway School on Tuesday night came for one reason: to see 24 students - many of whom never expected to make it through high school - receive diplomas.

In the first days of her last year of high school, 16-year-old Brittany Decker hugged her teachers - and mouthed off to them. Sometimes scowling and sullen, the girl who already had been kicked out of three Carroll County high schools swept notebooks from her desk to the floor and punched lockers in frustration. Piercings hugged the arch of her eyebrow and flashed from her nose and tongue. Nine months later, Brittany rolls her eyes in disgust when friends act up. She earned an A and B in her first community college classes this semester and plans to apply next year to four-year, Christian colleges.

Introductions to diploma programs are being held Those ages 16 and older who want to learn about high school diploma options and other programs, and have their math and reading skills evaluated, can attend a free "First Steps" orientation. Introductory programs will be held: From 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. tomorrow at Student Support Services and Carroll Adult Learning Connection, 55 N. Court St., G27, Westminster. From 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday and 9:30 a.m. to noon June 14 at North Carroll library branch, 2255 Hanover Pike, Greenmount.

One kid asked why teen-agers can't hang out together without getting "harassed" by police. Another asked about the constitutionally protected right to free speech through blasting music from a car stereo. Trevor Groomes, an 18-year-old who said he has spent the past four years in and out of juvenile lockups, had a somewhat more specific question. "If you do smoke and you're underage or whatever, and you got two different packs of cigarettes but one pack has PCP and embalming fluid on it, can you even tell the difference?"