Mane Tuianna goofed off his freshman and sophomore years. He hung out with the wrong crowd and couldn’t care less about school work.

“I made so many bad choices,” Tuianna told the Federal Way School Board on Tuesday. “People I was hanging out with didn’t care if I graduated or failed. I made so many excuses you couldn’t believe.”

But that all changed after Tuianna joined his school’s football team. He began buckling down and his grades went up.

It was too late, though. By this time Tuianna was behind in credits and wouldn’t be able to graduate on time.

So Tuianna and his parents moved to Federal Way to enroll Tuianna in Federal Way High School. Tuianna is one of about 40 students who are in a new credit retrieval program this year.

The program was engineered by teachers Jean Licari and Heather Wren, and allows students to complete both their core classes as well as independent studies for credit retrieval.

“We saw this need for a group of students who had messed up but now were ready to put the time in,” Licari said. “They still wanted the opportunity to graduate on time.”

The teachers spent the summer looking for candidates for their class: Students with good attendance whose grades were improving, but were far behind in credits.

The teachers called more than 50 students, offering them the chance to graduate.

“They thought it was a joke,” Licari said. “They didn’t believe it.”

All students who entered the program had to sign a contract, and there are strict consequences for their actions: A third strike against them and they are out.

Licari and Wren have the students for the first three periods of the day, and split the students’ time in half. In Wren’s class, students learn English and history, and the second half involves learning math, science and computer science with Licari.

Every Friday, the students print out their grades for their “success” reports. Fridays are also spent doing independent study for their credit retrieval.

Wren and Licari also call their students regularly to keep them on track.

“I am hoping the success we have this year will enable us to continue next year,” Licari said. “This is one of the most rewarding things as a teacher I have ever done.”

When Tuianna started the year, he was five credits behind. Last semester, he took seven regular classes and three credit retrieval classes.

“Federal Way gave me that hope to graduate,” Tuianna said. “I almost, almost lost sight of graduation. I promise you, you will see me on the graduation stage with that diploma.”