Tri High began as an alternative school for youth who have been invited to leave the “normal” school attended by the vast majority of their peers. A variety of circumstances determined why these students had not been learning adequately in the traditional schools of the north central region of Michigan’s remote Upper Peninsula.

Larger, traditional school populations are broken down into identity-defining subgroups ordered into a prestige hierarchy: jocks, preps, brains, nerds, tree-huggers, wiggers, skateboarders, burnouts, rednecks, etc. Distinctive expressive styles define a student’s group identity, often resulting in favoritism or discrimination by other students, and sometimes by teachers and administrators. Alt Ed youth had often been suppressed by this labeling atmosphere and did not get the attention the need from their regular school teachers.

Our film shows the authentic expressive styles of Alt Ed students as they tell us what is happening to them and how they are learning in their alternative school. The emotional support of teachers is especially significant because they are all too often lacking such support outside of school. Schedule are flexible, permitting many Alt Ed students to work. Some Alt Ed youth are partially or completely supporting themselves because their families are either unable to do it, or they just are not there at all.
Tri High has been re-named and relocated to Marquette, MI. It is now North Star Academy, a school of choice open to all students in Michigan.