Research shows investing in kids now will result in stronger adults who make a positive contribution to society. The first step to achieving that is keeping kids in school.

The Spokane Skills Center isn't your typical high school. It gives kids hands-on job skills training, while offering high school credit.

It also offers a program called On-Track, which gives students at-risk of dropping out a chance to get caught up.

?We're able to see the students not as less than but maybe as someone who has a little misstep and that we can guide them back to be wonderful community members," On-Track director Lisa Mattson-Coleman said.

?It?s the same learning as regular high school, but it's much easier in my learning ways,? senior Rhianna Brown said.

Students say making up missed assignments and classes is almost impossible in traditional high schools.

?I thought I would never be able to do anything like graduate even,? senior Bobbi Heeter said.

?One friend even made a statement that I would graduate in 2012, which would have possibly happened if I did stay in that system and that mentality of where I was at," senior Twahan Bacon-Wells said.

Statistics show kids who don't graduate are more susceptible to health issues, substance abuse and criminal activity. Also a person who gets a high school diploma and any kind of education or training afterward will make a million dollars more in their lifetime.

?That's huge. Think about the tax revenue and the contribution,? Lisa Mattson-Coleman said.

Thanks to the Spokane Skills Center's On-Track program, kids say they plan on doing just that.

?Wow I?ve done a lot to be where I am right now and I'm proud of myself for being where I am," Rhianna Brown said.