Noblesville campus in August. The network is planning to open additional schools, though it has not released the locations. Last year an Excel Center opened in Tennessee and this year one opened in Texas. Goodwill locations in other states, and even in Canada, are looking at opening similar schools.

In their Indianapolis hometown, an Excel graduation is an especially jubilant, and sometimes emotional, scene for graduates who have waited a long time to wear a cap and gown.

At most high school graduations, the crowd of onlookers is filled with proud parents cheering on their children. But at Excel, it’s just as likely to see children fill the gym seats and crowd forward in the aisles to celebrate their parents as they receive diplomas.

Three out of five Excel students havetuberculosis can only be made by culturing Mycobacterium tuberculosis organisms from a specimen taken from the patient (most often sputum, but may also include pus, CSF, biopsied tissue, etc.).  A diagnosis made other than by culture may only be classified as "probable" or "presumed".  For a diagnosis negating the possibility of tuberculosis infection, most protocols require that two separate cultures both test negative.

Sputum
Sputum smears and cultures should be done for acid-fast bacilli if the patient is producing sputum.  The preferred method for this is fluorescence microscopy (auramine-rhodamine staining), which is more sensitive than conventional Ziehl-Neelsen staining. In cases where there is no spontaneous sputum production, a sample can be induced, usually by inhalation of a nebulized saline or saline with bronchodilator solution. A comparative study