William Rubio, a 2025 graduate, changed his mindset and changed the trajectory of his life.

It happened as he concluded his freshman year at Harding High School in St. Paul, Minn.

“I had an epiphany,” Rubio said in an interview published on the Saint Paul Public Schools website. “I wanted to have an impact on society. That’s when I started to do more extracurricular activities, take International Baccalaureate classes and joined ROTC.”

He became a member of the National Honor Society, held a commander rank in his school’s JROTC program and graduated with a weighted 4.2 GPA.

Rubio plans to join the Marine Corps Reserves and do basic training in the coming months, then enter the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis on a full scholarship in 2026.

Rubio, who is Native American, learned life lessons the hard way.

He has been candid about his performance in middle school, when family traumas took his attention: He missed more school days than he was in attendance his eighth-grade year and his grades reflected that.

But in high school, he joined the American Indian Studies program. He had learned Dakota in middle school, studied the Ojibwe indigenous people’s language all four years of high school, and discovered his heritage includes both nations.

“When you’re unfocused in life, life beats you up and puts you against the wall,” Rubio commented, according to the website. “I wanted a sense of control in my life and to explore my identity through these opportunities that school gave me.”

"This change in mindset took place and his attendance and his grades improved," said Dan Kennedy, Harding’s American Indian Studies counselor. "Until students make the personal decision to change their mindset or until their education becomes an important part of their lives, change and positive outcomes can be slow. Everyone at Harding is trying to interrupt this and provide interventions that get results and improve data."

The staff at Harding High School takes a holistic approach to improving attendance, including offering incentives, making home visits, and removing barriers.

These efforts are making a difference. In the 2022-23 school year, 38 percent of Harding students missed 20 or more days of school. That number improved to 31 percent last school year, and the number of students missing five days or less also improved from 22 percent to 29 percent.