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Nolan Buyers
Nolan is a 13-year-old eighth grade student at Michigan Connections Academy (MICA). He is from Farmington, Michigan. Nolan is in MICA’s Gifted and Talented program. He tells his own story below.
"My experience here at MICA has been great. I just began at the beginning of this year, and I am so glad I did. Connections is a very challenging school, with lots of dedication and hard work required to be successful, but the education you get out of it is phenomenal.
MICA is a school for people seeking a more thorough education. It teaches you to be very efficient and produce quality work at the same time. If you don't work efficiently, you will be working long hours every day just to keep up with your scheduled daily assignments. The first few weeks can be pretty tough. However, after a month or two, I was able to get the hang of it and was then able to finish a very large amount of work in a relatively short amount of time.
Many people's first concern with the school is regarding the lack of socialization. I feel the benefits of online school far outweigh the bad parts. Also, there are many field trips for middle school students, and there are always bound to be some near wherever you might live.
You are always in contact with your teachers, either via WebMail® or during a LiveLesson® session. A LiveLesson session is a meeting with your teacher and the students in that class that takes place at a set time. You cannot see all of your classmates, but you can hear your teacher talking and see her computer screen. LiveLesson sessions can be about anything from a class lesson to a recent field trip.
In my opinion, the best part of Connections is being able to go at your own pace, and learning what you need to learn, not what you already know. You are able to focus more on the things you don't know, and skim through the things you do. Also, you can work at whatever time you need to; if you have sports or other things that you need to attend you can still get in a full day of work even if you get a late start. (It is nearly impossible to wake me up very early, so this is great!) Also, you can spend a lot of time on one subject if necessary, and less time on another if you already know it well. Overall, I would highly recommend this for students who work well on their own and are ready for a challenge."