The arch of colorful balloons over the doorway of a storefront on Shaw Avenue in Clovis was a clue that something exciting was happening on Friday morning.

Teachers, administrators, students, family members, and the Clovis Chamber of Commerce were celebrating the opening of the new location for Learn4Life — Crescent View West High School.

Principal Krystal Woskoski, the learning center coordinator, said the new site will enable Crescent View West to serve even more students than the 300 it serves today.

The school is “really a big family here, to be honest,” she said. “Our students come to us sometimes not having had the best educational experiences, they might have been turned off from education. It just might not have been something that they felt was for them.

“And we’re able to see that renewed vigor — it is learn for life. And that is our goal, is to just really create that love of learning for students and hope that it will surpass their lifetime.”

More Tech at New Site

The former store in the Sierra Pavilion shopping center on Shaw Avenue east of Sunnyside Avenue is airy and wide-open, with desks for students and teachers throughout the open space. Big-screen televisions hang on several walls.

Technology upgrades are a big improvement over the old location, Woskoski said.

“All of our small group instruction classrooms have been equipped with smart boards, which we did not have at our last campus,” she said. “And so that has been a great opportunity to improve with our math intervention program. They’re able to use that interactively as well as our English programs, they’re able to use those as well.

“And most exciting for a lot of our students is our e-sports program, where they’re able to play their video games as well as project those onto those screens, and they’re able to see what is going on and interact and be able to work collaboratively.”

The school, which is chartered through the Fresno County Office of Education, has been operating for 10 years in Clovis, providing personalized instruction to students who are struggling at their comprehensive high schools. In addition to classwork that can include dual enrollment classes for college credit, students are provided tutoring, mental health support, and counseling for college and career.

He’s Catching Up

Trenton Talley, who has been at Crescent View West for about 2½ months and is wrapping up his sophomore year, said he was struggling to stay on pace with his classmates at his old high school. With Learn4LIfe, Trenton said, he’s able to get through his classwork at his own pace and is now earning As and Bs.

Trenton said that when he arrived he had no college plans, but now wants to go to a four-year university after he graduates from Crescent View West.

Students benefit from the individualized teaching and assistance at Crescent View West, whether it’s in person or online, in small groups or one-on-one sessions, Krystal said. Some students choose to return to their home schools after they catch up on their coursework, while others opt to remain at Crescent View West through graduation, she said.

The school activities similar to comprehensive schools, such as opportunities for community volunteerism, parents engagement, and college and career nights, Krystal said.

Trenton’s English teacher is Catherine Vang, who has been working for Crescent View West for eight years. Her initial career goal was to teach English overseas, but once she started working at the high school as a tutor, she was hooked.

“I had other opportunities to go teach elsewhere, but I chose to stay continuously because I just fell in love with the school, and the students were what really won me over,” she said. “I felt like these students definitely needed the second, third, fourth chance. … And I felt like I was essential for them to get that second, third, fourth chance.”