Katie
High School Student
Katie is a high school student at Great River Connections Academy who values the school’s individualized, self-paced approach. She feels both challenged and supported by Great River Connections Academy’s curriculum and teachers.
Why I Chose Great River Connections Academy
When I had just started my senior year in high school, I was looking forward to graduation and moving on to college. However, just two weeks into the school year, I realized I needed a change.
Up to this point, I attended the local public school and did very well as a student. In10th grade I started feeling that the traditional school setting wasn’t working for me. I often felt that I wasn’t challenged enough in some classes and, when the material did get more difficult, I couldn’t get help or the individual support I needed.
“I know the pace in which I best learn, and things just were either too slow or too fast for me,” Katie said. “I didn’t feel comfortable, and it caused me to get complacent academically.”
I enrolled in Great River Connections Academy, which just had opened in August, and offers the same learning platform and curriculum as Ohio Connections Academy.
My Online High School Experience
“It’s been a wonderful change for me and I feel like I’m in a better place,” Katie said. “At Great River Connections Academy, I’m able to directly connect with my teachers any time I need, and those conversations are great because they think of me as an individual.”
I can take more courses at Great River Connections Academy than were offered at my previous school, including sociology and psychology, which I plan to continue studying at Wright State University next fall.
And while the courses at Great River Connections Academy have been more challenging at times, I’ve been more successful and learn more effectively through the interactive presentations available on the online platform. In fact, I recently learned that I’d been accepted into the National Honor Society.
Another important factor for any high school student is socializing with peers, and I probably spend more time with her friends these days, as my schedule is more flexible than it used to be.
“I really feel like I have grown so much this year as an individual because I haven’t had to deal with all the other social pressures that can become a major distraction in a traditional school,” she said.