A program designed to teach at-risk high school students leadership and mentoring skills is relaunching this spring, with 120 Atlanta-area students expected to be enrolled by the end of the year.

Essential2Life, which works with students from their sophomore through senior years, plans to begin interviews Tuesday and choose an initial group of students by March 1, said program director Vince Hungate.

The program includes students from Jackson High, South Atlanta High, Washington High and Osborn High, and 100 percent of participants graduate, Hungate said.

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Uta Thomas picks up her son, Jax, during a public hearing in Atlanta on Wednesday, November 5, 2025. She implored the school board not to close Dunbar Elementary. 
"You would centralize education to decentralized families," she said. "You would break apart a community hub." (Abbey Cutrer / AJC)

Credit: abbey.cutrer@ajc.com

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