Emerald School of Excellence
Emerald School of Excellence is a private, non-profit recovery high school in Charlotte, NC. Emerald delivers a whole-person, student-centered education for students of all means, grades 9th through 12th, who are in recovery from substance use or mental health disorders. The school serves students from surrounding areas in both North and South Carolina. Emerald is more than a school; it is a professionally-led, peer-to-peer support community. Emerald School of Excellence's mission is to provide quality education in a recovery-friendly environment to adolescents with substance use and co-occurring disorders. Our vision is to strengthen the continuum of care for youth by serving as a resource to support them in reaching substance use and co-occurring disorder recovery. Through providing individualized instruction and recovery support, Emerald School of Excellence aims to assist students with reaching long-term recovery, obtaining their high school diploma, and preparing for their next step after secondary education. The school hopes to reduce the burden on public systems (e.g., healthcare system, justice system, etc.) and combat the substance use disorder epidemic by providing youth with early intervention that supports them in reaching sustained recovery.
- The return to use rate for traditional high schools is 70%. For recovery high schools like Emerald, it’s 30%.
- Emerald's 28 alumni have been accepted to universities accross the country including UNC Chapel Hill, NC State, Clemson, and Berklee College of Music.
- In our first four school years since opening in the fall of 2019, 46% of our students hit one year or more of continuous sobriety.