Graduating high school is the first step to a successful career in life.

Statistics show that those who graduate high school make hundreds of thousands of dollars more over the course of their lifetime than those who dropped out. College graduates are said to make a million dollars more over the same time period than those who dropped out of high school.

According to information from National Center for Education Statistics’ website, quitting high school also affects a person’s ability to find a job. In fact, over the past decade and a half, the employment gap between those with a diploma or degree and those without has widened. Between 2000 and 2014 the percentage of those who held full time employment averaged 70 percent. Those with less than a high school education fluctuated from a high of 60 percent in 2000, to a low of 45 percent in 2010, climbing to 55 percent in 2014.

Combined with the amount of earnings brought in each year, the inability to find a job creates a difficult situation for adults who left high school before receiving their diploma.

Schools within Pearl River County have taken note of these statistics, and are implementing programs to help high school students earn their diploma.

Picayune’s Separate Municipal School District has a new program that will allow students to earn their diploma, even after they dropped out. Previously high school dropouts had one option, a GED.

Additionally, the Pearl River County School District is considering a new program that will help struggling students get on the fast track to their graduation.

Parents should also be involved, because they are the ones with the largest influence on the adult their child will become.

When parents are involved in their child’s education, they have the best possible foundation to not only earn their diploma, but also any higher education they want to pursue.