What We've Accomplished

I love graduation day. We as teachers get the distinct pleasure of seeing our hard work come to fruition once a year in a beautiful celebration. Today is a day I'm proud of my school and my students. Again we graduate the largest single high school class in the nation. Watching a video of our highlighted students: a professional musician, a race car driver, and an anchor for our weekly news show who is graduating at only 16 years old, I am reminded that online education allows these students unique opportunities to achieve their dreams NOW. But it's not just the "celebrity" students this type of program helps. Thousands of other amazing students received their diplomas today. Many graduated early or with honors. Today is a day I feel honored to have the pleasure of meeting and congratulating these incredible students in person. Congratulations Class of 2013!

Getting Prepared for Graduation

As the year comes to a close, I have been spending a lot of time getting ready for my students' graduation. This is a very exciting time for everyone at the school as our graduation is always a big event! Last year our graduating class was the largest in the state. Many of our students are some of the first in their families to graduate high school and we work hard to make it a special occasion for them. This year we have some innovative things going on such as a "Twitter Party", an Instagram Photo booth, live stream of the event, and (my part) a Senior Art Slide Show. I have spent the last month going through artwork from art classes that seniors have created. This means going back 4 years in some cases. It was fun to go through all the artwork I have collected last year and this year to put together a show that recognizes our graduating artists!

Check out a snippet from the show (names have been removed):

Congratulations

It is my birthday today and I couldn’t ask for a better present from my job than a conversation with an excited graduate. Scores for the OGT’s (Ohio Graduation Test) were posted today and I knew of a student from my first semester class who was just waiting to pass science to find out if she could graduate this year as an 11^th grader. I went to check her scores this morning and found out she passed. We talked this morning all about her future plans and all the excitement she is feeling. She plans to go into nursing. I have been speaking to many of my seniors this week, making sure they are on track to pass and graduate and it is a wonderful experience to see their hard work finally paying off for them. Some of these students are the first in their family to graduate high school and many of them didn’t see this as a possibility for themselves but they are accomplishing this because of the opportunities online school has offered them and their strength to stick it out. I am very proud!