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Byline: Erika Hobbs
May 21--Halloween started as the scariest day of high school senior Alyssa Russell's life. The former Freedom High student walked into an alternative school that morning thinking it would be filled with thugs and gangs. Although she had been in trouble for pulling a prank that went awry, Russell thought she certainly didn't belong there.
Russell, 17, soon found she was wrong. Classmates at Orlando's Excel Alternative School, a last-chance safety net for expelled students, were more like the softspoken Russell than she originally thought. In the end, she said Excel changed her life. "At first she cried a lot," said Alyssa's mother, Debbie Russell. "But she's so good now."
Russell graduated with honors from Excel on May 12. She also was permitted to attend Freedom's graduation ceremony with her former class on Wednesday. By most…
Source: HighBeam Research, Unexpected treasures: At first, Alyssa Russell cried about the school...