Dropouts continue, haunting classmates

"It used to be so depressing working there, seeing all the schoolkids coming in. I'm 16, 17, working in a pizza store. I was like, 'I should be in school.' "

At 17, she got pregnant. The father was Jason Torres, her boyfriend since she was 13. Kandice was happy. She wanted a baby to love. Marcel was born in October 2005.

In March 2007, the couple had their second child, Jordan. They were living with Jason's mother, Dora Egnak, in her house in Kensington - "a ghetto house," Egnak called it. Jason, also a dropout, was working as a laborer. The family talked about moving somewhere better, safer. While researching GED programs, three long years after quitting school, Kandice discovered Gateway.

The day Kandice took the Gateway reading test, the first hurdle to getting in, Jason was at her side. She was one of the few applicants that day who had brought a supporter.

"If you just give me a chance," she wrote in an application essay, "I would show you leadership, persistence, dedication, and I will strive hard to make sure you never regret your decision."

So far, she had been as good as her word. But she still had to make it through the rest of the semester.

Semester's end draws near

At Sieber's urging, Andre had been exploring missing a week of class. It looked as if it might all work out.

But then Andre said he had heard that if he got the job, he'd have to miss closer to two weeks.

It became like a conversation with himself. He was angry. He was disappointed. But it seemed like too much time away from school and too much to ask.

So Andre turned back to his classes and the work at hand. The disappointment, he swallowed.

He had the semester to close out, eight empty chairs and counting.

For a video on Gateway to College, interviews, and a student's rap on going back to school, go to http://go.philly.com/doorway