A Phoenix-area school has added a laundry room to help struggling students and combat absences.
In the back of a Phoenix strip mall sits an old movie theater, now converted to a high school. But it’s not your ordinary school.
Maya High School is an alternative high school. Many of its students struggle with things other teens take for granted, like basic housing.
Over 30% of the students are categorized as homeless. On top of that, many students skip school because they didn’t have clean clothes.
So an idea was proposed to open a laundry in the school that could be used by students, free of charge. But the money wasn’t available in the school’s budget. That’s when some big-time partners stepped forward. Along with the Leona Group, which manages the school, the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Fiesta Bowl came through with all the cash to make it happen.
An old closet just off the cafeteria is the new student hot spot, according to seniors Stephanie and Anntania. They explained it changes their classmates by building up their self-esteem. Instead of worrying about someone talking about you because you smell bad or asking someone to borrow clothes — students can just wash them at the school.
Administrator Andreya De La Torre, who’s also a former student at the school, said of Maya’s students — “We offer them more than academics. We offer them life skills to teach them things that someone is probably not teaching them on the outside of here and to show them love.”