It's the first day of high school. Thirty students sit in homeroom: 14 are white; 9 are Hispanic; 5 are black; 1 is Asian; 1 is of mixed race. Girls and boys are equally represented. Their school is over 40 years old. Three are from families who make less than $20,000 per year.

Only 22 will be left by high school graduation. Only 10 of those will have the skills necessary to succeed in college or enter the workplace directly. Five will not have studied any foreign language at all during high school.

The most common reason for the eight who dropped out will be boredom. Four of them will be unemployed. Three will end up on government assistance. Two will not have health insurance. All eight will be three and a half times more likely to get arrested and eight times more likely to go to jail than their peers who graduated. They will live 10 years less on average but cost $83,000 more each in government-paid health costs than if they had graduated.

Do you know them? What will you do to make a difference? Take action today:

• Watch the whole child video, and share it with others.
• Host a Community Conversation to engage others in supporting the whole child.
• Advocate for whole child policies in your community and across the country using the tips and tools in our Policy Blackboard.
• Stay informed through this newsletter and through the Whole Child page on Facebook so that you are the first to know when new resources and action alerts are available.

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