NASHVILLE, Tenn (WTVF) — For more than a decade Glencliff High School principal, Clint Wilson, has been focused on helping students at the most diverse school in the state get a post-secondary education.
"Kids from 30 countries that speak about 30 different languages. So when you walk into a classroom at Glencliff every classroom looks different," he said.
But for first-generation students, many of them immigrants, access to college is a difficult journey to get through.
"I tear up. I mean I do. I mean I've had kids graduate and just know what their desire is, and see them struggle, to make that happen. College for many kids was not an opportunity that they had," he said.
Starting Fall of 2024, students will have a chance at graduating not only from high school but Nashville State Community College, too. It's an opportunity that has Wilson crying happy tears.
"Our motto is diversity is our strength and they are our family and it's like saying to your family member you're going to college for free for two years. I mean it's a huge deal," he said.
Many kids that attend Glencliff are DACA students, who get charged out-of-state tuition, leading to prices many of them can't afford.
"Just because someone might not be born here doesn't mean they can't go on to be a cure for cancer, they can't go on to be the next teacher across the hallway, or the doctor that you see at the hospital," he said.
Wilson knows a college degree can turn a person's life around and is excited to get the word out.
"This is ginormous. This is literally life-changing and generational changes for so many of our students," he said.
Once the program starts, all students will be eligible to enroll.
"Even if kids are in one semester, that's one less semester they have to pay for," Wilson said.
