The YMCA of Greater Charlotte has formed a local branch of a nationally known youth club to help engage students in area high schools with the lowest graduation rates.

The focus of the club called Y Achievers is to help teens achieve post-secondary education and career goals, said Lotticia Mack, director of Y Achievers in Charlotte.

The schools participating in the new club are Vance High School, West Charlotte High School and West Mecklenburg High School.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools have a 69.9 percent student graduation rate, according the YMCA. Of those students, 84.9 percent of white students graduate, 61.5 percent of African-American students graduate and 54.4 percent of Hispanic students graduate.

The Y Achievers club, which kicked off three weeks ago, aims to raise the systemwide graduation rate, Mack said.

"We want them to realize their potential," Mack said. "This is a great group of kids."

Monica Ellis, 15, a student at West Charlotte, said she joined the club because she plans on going to college and wants to be more involved with the community.

"It's good for us to get involved ... we should help people out," Ellis said.

Y Achievers meets weekly at three sites for workshops that focus on character development, leadership building, community service, and career and college etiquette. The students are working on a film project called "Looking for Flavor."

During the project, participants will be interviewing people on the streets of uptown Charlotte to learn about the history of the area.

They will also look into the history of the Brooklyn neighborhood, a once thriving African-American neighborhood in Charlotte's second ward, Mack said.

To get ideas about how to create their film art, students from the West Charlotte site had the opportunity to hear from artist Michaela Pilar Brown at the McColl Center for Visual Art uptown on Wednesday before they began working on their "Looking for Flavor" film project.

Brown explained the process of how she creates her art to a group of about eight students. A few said they felt uncomfortable viewing Brown's photography, which often contains nudity, because they felt nude art carried a negative connotation.

"Clothing defines who and what you are, so I wanted to strip that away," Brown said to the students. She pointed out prints she took hanging on the wall of a breast cancer survivor who was scared from surgery. The nudity helped portray the woman's battle with cancer and her scars became interesting and showed texture, Brown said.

She went on to break down the stereotypes nudity portrays and also mentioned the meaning of symbols in art. Students rattled off common symbols they knew of like a cross representing religion and protection, or a fish coinciding with pregnancy.

"History defines so much of what we do and how we move forward," Brown said.

Aside from small-group exercises, once a month all 100 participating students will gather for a three-hour "super cluster" workshop at partnering YMCA facilities, Mack said. Students will also have a chance to complete a career shadow day.

"Our mission is to maximize their strengths and potential," Mack said.