High School student arrested for trying to get a college scholarship

You ever wonder what happened to those "Super Seniors" from your high school days? You know, those people who just wasn't smart enough or applied themselves well enough to graduate on time? My 16yr old who is a junior and I shared a few laughs recently when she told me the the story of this kid in her school who was due to graduate this year. According to her, dude is almost 21yrs old with a beard about as full as the rapper Rick Ross.

I told her even though it may be a running joke among her classmates, you still have to give him credit for actually being able to finish when you consider the current high school dropout rate nationally. I don't know what its going to take to solve the drop out problem nationally or more specifically among minority high school kids, but something has to be done. According to research: every nine seconds a student becomes a drop out here in the United States [click here to read more]. It's estimated that our nation’s 50 largest cities graduate only 50% of their high school students.

Dropping out of high school is just something I don't understand. Maybe things are just different now, but there was no place I would rather be than high school when I was a teenager. Well, that's with the exception of the one day a couple of friends and myself skipped school to go to this kids house to play Atari and watch porn. I had fun that day, but my ass paid for it dearly with the beating of a lifetime from my father.


I wish kids took high school and their higher education as seriously as Anthony Avalos at Kofa High School out in Arizona. Anthony is a high school senior and varsity basketball player. I don't know how good he is at basketball, but he's dedicated himself  to the point where he's seeking a scholarship in an effort to further his education upon graduation. Like I said, I wish more kids were like him. I wish like him, more high school kids took life as seriously as he did. I mean if they did, they'd be able to take advantage of every opportunity that presents itself to them like Anthony did:

Almost everyone has had the dream: If I could do high school all over again, things would work out so much better. 

It's the type of thing (cute) movies are made of. 

Authorities in Arizona aren't laughing this week following the arrest of Anthony Avalos, who was fraudulently attending Yuma (Ariz.) Kofa High School.


Avalos is 22, having graduated from a high school in Florida in 2005. He told authorities he went back to school with the hopes of landing a college basketball scholarship. He may land in jail instead. 

Avalos is facing charges of forgery and sexual conduct with a minor, according to a press release on the Yuma Police Department web site. 

Kofa High School and the Yuma Unified High School District No. 70 are facing questions of how Avalos - who attended the school sporadically for parts of two school years - could have pulled off the ruse for so long. 

In a report (and video) by Donna Rossi of KPHO, a CBS affiliate, Yuma asst. superintendent Richard Faidley said Avalos was admitted into the school because he said he was homeless and staying with an aunt. Faidley said federal law requires the school district to admit homeless students, even without proper documentation. 

Avalos' scheme unraveled when he had to produce a birth certificate - which he told police he create on the internet and school officials said was obviously a forgery - to play basketball this winter. 

According to Rossi's report, when school officials noticed spelling errors and other mistakes, they notified the school resource officer, who notified Yuma police. 

Two big questions remain unanswered: How did Avalos play on the basketball team last winter without providing documentation and will the school be forced to vacate the regional title it won a year ago with Avalos on the team? (source)

 Now see, that's dedication. This poor guy was 22yrs old, and already a high school graduate. But because he realized the importance of a higher education, he spent 2yrs of his life in "do over" mode. This young man didn't listen to the Nay Sayers who said he would have never amounted to anything. Instead, he was brave enough to sneak back into high school, play basketball in an attempt to get a scholarship to attend college.

OK, never mind the whole having sex with a minor thing; seriously, I'd hate to think that he was on some pervert type shit. What's important is that he had the gumption to do what so many others before him could only wish they could do. Don't front; you know you wish you could go back and relive your high school days - I know I do. My problem is this: how are you gonna forge a birth certificate to do just that, and you can't even spell. Tha f*ck college did he think was going to let him in and his ass can't spell?!! Nice try Anthony, you sir are an idiot, and it's too bad you can't drop out of prison.

QUESTION: Who is responsible or should be held accountable for the horrendous graduation rate?