Mill Valley High School students Ally Brake, 17, and Sarah Verhamme, 16, were both at risk of dropping out of high school. But the support they received from the Reconnecting Youth program helped keep them in school and on track to graduate.

Brake and Verhamme spoke about their school’s program at a regional meeting Monday at the Lawrence public school district office, 110 McDonald Drive. The event was hosted by Kansas DropINs, a statewide collaboration of agencies dedicated to keeping kids in school.

The Shawnee-area students joined about 80 others — including students, parents, school officials and community members — in brainstorming ways to reduce school dropout rates in the state and the area.

Brake said more emphasis needs to be placed on working around nonacademic issues that students face.

“School programs are not built around life problems,” she said.

Jessica Noble, Kansas DropINs coordinator, said that hearing from the students and school professionals was an important part of decreasing dropout rates. Douglas County dropout rates increased sharply between the 2004-2005 and 2006-2007 school years, from 6.5 percent to 11.8 percent. Statewide, the rate in 2006-2007 stood at 10.3 percent, an increase of about 1 percent from the previous two school years.

Noble said she received some valuable feedback during the meeting. That information will be collected and discussed at a Kansas Dropout Prevention Summit on Oct. 20 in Wichita.

“I’m very encouraged,” Noble said.

And encouragement from schools and community members is what students need to stay in school, Brake said.

“Most of the kids are smart. They’re just not motivated,” she said.