Maddie
8th Grade Student
The traditional school environment wasn’t working for Maddie – at all. “I was failing all of my classes,” she recalls. Her courses “went too fast” for her, and she couldn’t keep up with the material. She was reluctant to participate: “I didn’t want to raise my hand and look dumb.” Then her family discovered Great Lakes Learning Academy, and everything changed.
“I hated school”
Maddie had never really felt comfortable at school. Like many kids, she enjoyed some of the social aspects – “walking the halls and seeing people” – but academically things never clicked. “My classes just went too fast for me,” she said. The feeling of always being behind was overwhelming, dispiriting. “I hated school,” she says. “Every morning, I would beg to stay home.”
It turned out that school wasn’t the problem; the traditional approach was. At Great Lakes Learning Academy, Maddie can master the material in science, math, language arts and more by getting the support she needs. “Every morning my homeroom teacher gives me assignments … to keep me on track,” she explains. “It’s different but it’s way better.”
Now when she wakes up in the morning, she “can’t wait to login and get started.”
Happy and Thriving
Because of her experience at a brick-and-mortar school, Maddie is extremely aware of why Great Lakes Learning Academy is a better fit for her. It starts with the faculty.
“My homeroom teacher says good morning every day. We have meetings every day. [I’m] not at all afraid to reach out,” she explains. Maddie has a similar appreciation for the school’s principal. “Mr. Snell makes us feel really welcome,” she says, “and it just makes your day nice.”
Happy at school, supported in her studies, and with improved time-management, she even gets “to spend more time with [her] family.” Once a struggling student at a brick-and-mortar school, Maddie now proudly reports “I have straight A’s and B’s!”
“The teachers are amazing; they are just so wonderful. I get good grades because [they are] on top of things all the time.”
— Maddie