TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — Nobody prepares Paige Risden’s breakfast before she departs each morning. Nobody reminds her to tidy the sheets on her twin mattress artlessly laid on the carpet in her rented trailer. Nobody is there to pick her up at the end of a bad day.

Risden, 18, leaves for Traverse City High School each morning knowing she won’t see much of her boyfriend or her three roommates until after sundown when she’s finished with one of three jobs. Those are the sacrifices she makes to keep up her grades and swim above the poverty line without a parental life jacket.

“I’m just out on my own,” Risden said. “It’s like lone wolf. It really sucks sometimes.”

She is only a few weeks away from walking across the graduation stage, an accomplishment that required long days, dozens of sacrifices and a little help from school district staff.

Risden was an honors student at Traverse City West High School before she began to fall behind, a fact of life for many students in her position, the ones who often face challenges far greater than homework or a tough test. 

Her life at then home took a negative turn, pushing school down her priority list. She missed several exams and ultimately lost credit for an entire semester.

Risden is one of nine siblings and her parents divorced when she was young. She got her first job when she was 13 at a local pizza shop. She took another restaurant gig when she was 15 and later moved on to two part-time sales jobs at the mall. Minimum wage doesn’t buy much — especially in this resort town on the shores of Lake Michigan — but it was all she could find.

Her father expected Risden to support herself. But pairing part-time jobs with the rigors of an honors schedule at West and the challenges of the a health program she was enrolled in, was easier said than done.

Childcare exacerbated the struggle. Risden’s father worked nights at Burger King and needed help keeping an eye on her younger siblings while he slept during the day. She said her dad told her to learn to balance all three or she would have to leave the house. That’s when Risden sunk.

“I cried,” she said. “I cried for a long time.”

Her mother lived with six children and her parents 20 miles away in Buckley, Michigan. It was a full house and the half hour commute was too far to continue attending her school, she said. Missing credits didn’t help, yet another hurdle. Delaying graduation would only prolong the struggle.

That’s when she found Traverse City High School, a public school that offers more flexibility and less rigorous course loads. Counselors from other schools in the area often recommend the school for students with similar circumstances as Risden.

The school offers flexible schedules, smaller class sizes, one-on-one tutoring and a familial atmosphere can serve as a stopgap when students fall dangerously behind in their classwork. 

“People say this is like the trashcan school compared to the rest of the schools,” Risden said, noting that all but one of her friends from her old school stopped speaking to her after she switched schools this year.

Lance Morgan, Traverse City High principal, offered a schedule where Risden could make up her classwork and continue to work full-time. And because she was technically “in transition” after leaving her parents, the district’s Students in Transition Empowerment Program — or STEP — helped her carry some of the weight.

Abby Jordan is Traverse City Area Public Schools’ STEP coordinator. She works individually with some of the city’s most at-risk children to guide them to their diplomas and a successful life. But she knows her office can’t clear every roadblock for every student.

She knows plenty of children like Risden who struggle but eventually cross the graduation stage. She also knows those who sleep in tents, cars and on park benches downtown. It’s difficult to measure her efficacy amid the problems with youth homelessness that continue to plague northwest Michigan, she said.

About 38 percent of students in northwest Michigan are “economically disadvantaged,” according to the Michigan Department of Education. It’s a hardship with which many in Traverse City are familiar; the city has one of the largest wealth gaps in the state.

Around 2.5 million children experience homelessness in the U.S. every year, according to the National Center on Family Homelessness. Arizona is the state in which teens and children are most likely to experience homelessness and Vermont is the least, according to a report conducted by the American Institute of Research. Michigan falls in the middle, as the 20th most likely state for childhood homelessness to occur. 

A growing population of local students is often unnoticed and needs more than free breakfast or lunch, Jordan said. More than 400 students districtwide were identified as “in transition” this year. It’s a phrase public school officials use to avoid labeling students as homeless.

“When you say homelessness, people think about those people living in tents and without a real place to live,” Morgan said. “We absolutely have those kids … but the more real approach to this is that some kids — for one reason or another — don’t have a regular place to stay.”

Jordan’s dual-position as homeless liaison is legally required. She serves students ages 3 to 20 who lack regular and adequate overnight housing by providing academic support, transportation to and from school, free meals and just about any assistance Risden might need.

“Students that are in these types of situations need some additional help in school,” Jordan said. “It’s often the only stable piece in their lives so we try to put those extra supports in place.”

State data shows only about one in three Traverse City High School seniors received their diploma last year. Data from previous years is more austere; Four-year graduation rates from a decade ago were lower than 20 percent. Added stability isn’t the only remedy to student success.

Hungry students can access after-school dinners or in-house food pantries. STEP specialists are on-hand at each school to help schedule bus routes or provide BATA passes and gas cards. Academic support is also essential to ensure students make time for school between everyday struggles.

Risden, now weeks away from graduation, works at two assisted living homes and part-time at a shoe store in the mall. Her financial challenges are far from over. Months ago she didn’t have food for dinner or money for feminine hygiene products, she said.

The district now provides her with food and keeps her stocked on hygiene essentials.

“It’s any barriers a child might face to be involved with school,” Jordan said, explaining they try to provide students with the same supplies as everyone else, whether it be a baseball mitt or choir shoes. But the program can’t solve every challenge local students face.

Local homeless prevention advocates are realizing the housing struggles shared by many of the region’s younger residents are heightened for those with limited resources. Many students who fit the more stereotypically homeless model will still be left in the cold this winter.

Jordan only has the resources to help students while they’re at school. Traverse City’s housing shortage doesn’t do them any favors after the school day ends.

“We don’t have a safety net when they’re not in school,” Jordan said. “We don’t even know what they’re doing. … We have to understand it first but we need to streamline this into some type of service delivery.”

A proactive, preventative approach may be the only effective avenue left to explore, Jordan added. She hopes to bring in supportive housing experts and national consulting organizations. 

Risden said it is difficult to find affordable housing in Traverse City and that many jobs she qualified for are too demanding. She plans to move to Florida early next year for broader opportunities but also to set a positive example. 

“Everyone thought I was some burnout, drug addict dropout that wasn’t going to graduate and give up,” Risden said. “I feel like the only way to get out of it and not have anyone else bring you down is to go somewhere where you don’t know anybody.

Kaminski writes for the Traverse City, Michigan Record Eagle.