Going Beyond Real Alternative School Graduates Familiar With Real World

She’ll cross the stage in tie-dyed tights.

Her eyes will shine like the silver ring piercing her brow.

And the high school diploma in Holly Doughty’s hand will signal she’s fully emerged from the cardboard box where she once slept under the Monroe Street Bridge.

Doughty, 17, is heading to college, away from the parks she called home, away from the downtown laundry room where she was arrested for living illegally.

She’s leaving behind the corner where girls she thought were friends kicked her face until her lips ballooned against her braces.

“There’s a lot of bad peoples out there,” Doughty repeats, talking about life since she was booted from home at 14.

But on Thursday night, she’ll celebrate her turnabout with the devoted friends she’s met at one of Spokane School District 81’s most alternative high schools.

Twenty-one teenagers will see their prized moments at REAL School flash on a screen during a graduation that’s every bit as offbeat as some of its graduates.

Gowns of red, black and blue. Tassels a blend of all three. Hair just as colorful. They’ll wear it all when they take the stage at North Central High School.

They’ll enter to “Pomp and Circumstance,” exit to “Rock ‘n Roll High School.”

REAL School doesn’t have its own building, just a remodeled garage with a carpet-tile-concrete floor at the back of Havermale Center on West Knox.

Teachers at the 23-year-old school are called by first name. No last names allowed and no desks, either. Students sink into a cluster of couches for English class.

Who are these kids?

“We’re not mainstream,” says Beth Marshall, another senior. “In a normal classroom, we’d stick out.”

“There are people who stink and kids with purple hair and boys who wear makeup,” says Doughty, who came to the school three years ago. “I was relieved to see I wasn’t the only weirdo out there. And everybody was happy.”

Teacher Cheryl Aker calls them very bright kids - often gifted - who detest the routine in ordinary classrooms. Enrollment fluctuates between 60 and 70 students, mostly sophomores, juniors and seniors.

“They’ve gotten bored somewhere in school,” she says. “They want to do something different, faster, weirder, whatever.”

On Thursday, the audience will meet Heron Furtwangler, who hops trains with hobos during school breaks. He’s been to Boston and Key West, Fla., and plans to make movies someday.

There’ll be Jana Taylor, 17, who hated everything about traditional high school, including the teacher who called her “Canary” when she dyed her hair bright yellow.

Josh McMillen, 19, was forced out of North Central after missing 38 days in a row. He’s adored REAL since a classmate danced into the room and slapped a heart-shaped sticker on his shirt the day he arrived. Teachers helped him make a portfolio for his dream career as a cartoonist.

“I feel like I’m just going to burst, I’m so proud of these kids,” says Aker.

Motioning to Doughty, she adds, “I have no doubt she’ll get her doctorate someday.”

Doughty dropped out of Shadle Park High School after leaving home, but she quickly became bored with street life.

“It’s not a world of excitement like some people think it is. You get your basic necessities and then you sit all day.”

She spent one unsuccessful week at Jantsch High School before a counselor took one look and sent her to REAL.

She’s since acquired a 4.0 grade point average, credit for four college classes, and sign language skills from classes at REAL. The sign language helped her land a $40-an-hour, on-call job as an interpreter at Sacred Heart Medical Center.

She spends most of her wages on the apartment she rents in Cheney and the three cats that live with her.

She already has scholarships, grants and loans to pay next year’s tuition at The Evergreen State College in Olympia.

No one would recognize her now as the rumpled kid asleep under the bridge, Doughty says.

“I am going somewhere. And I’m going to make something of what I got.”

Despite her successes, she’s certain her eyes will glisten with tears at graduation Thursday night.

“It’s kind of scary realizing you’re going to have to deal with normal people again,” she says. “We’re leaving the nest.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Color Photos

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: Graduations Gonzaga Prep and Liberty High School led the procession of 1997 graduates with commencement ceremonies on May 25 and Sunday, respectively. Here is a list of the remaining graduations. June 5 Mead High School, 8 p.m., the Spokane Arena. June 6 St. George’s School, 4 p.m., on the lawn at St. George’s. North Central High, 5 p.m., Opera House. Ferris High, 8 p.m., Opera House. Havermale, 7:30 p.m., North Central High School. Cheney High, 8 p.m. Eastern Washington University’s Pavilion. June 7 Lewis and Clark High, 10 a.m., Opera House. Shadle Park High, 1 p.m., Opera House. Rogers High, 4 p.m., Opera House. Riverside High, 8 p.m., Opera House. Deer Park High, 6 p.m., Deer Park High football field. Medical Lake, 11 a.m., Eastern Washington University’s Pavilion. June 8 Lakeside High, 3 p.m., Masonic Temple. Northwest Christian High, 2 p.m., Whitworth Auditorium. On Thursday, The Spokesman-Review will publish special graduation editions of the North, South and Valley Voice sections that will feature the names of graduating seniors, essays and stories on the dozens of valedictorians.