Teen who endured tragedy finds success through online education
Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
One of the great lessons from the pandemic is that education must include flexibility. While some students struggled during a year of mostly crisis virtual instruction, most flourished with intentional online learning. Utah Online School is leading the way in online education and has been for years.
With more than 15 years of experience in a flexible learning environment and serving more than 10,000 students each year, UOS has time-tested methods for accommodating the needs of students.
UOS emphasizes student success by tailoring learning to student needs with the support of certified teachers, adult mentors, and counselors. Best of all, UOS is an accredited public school, free to Utah students.
How UOS helped one student
At 15, Kelly has experienced a lifetime’s worth of trauma, including multiple moves, her parent’s divorce and eventually the tragic death of her father days before the start of her freshman year in a new school.
A few months later, COVID hit and effectively ended her schooling for many months.
Kelly moved to Utah to live with her grandparents. She was short on some credits needed, so during the summer, she enrolled in and completed two classes through UOS. Best of all, they were courses she couldn’t take at her boundary school because demand exceeded capacity.
“The Utah Online School experience was great,” said her grandfather. “The courses were thorough and the process was smooth. There was no pressure, so Kelly was able to work at her own pace. Anytime there was a question or concern, the teachers and staff at UOS responded the same day.”
Now a junior, Kelly is able to make up some of her missing credits at her boundary school, and she also plans to take additional summer courses at UOS.
Focused on needs and flexibility for students and families
Even with the current school year underway, students have options of taking courses from UOS while still attending their local school. No matter the situation, UOS can support the needs of students through their expansive course offerings and supportive learning environment.
Early high school credit available for 6-8th grade students
Many students are eager and able to get a head start on their high school credits. This allows flexibility in their future high school schedule or early graduation for students interested in this option.
Grade replacement
Utah Online provides students the opportunity to retake a course to replace a grade on their transcript.
Credit recovery
Utah Online helps students recover failed credit needed for graduation. Students may sign up for credit recovery during the school year or summer.
Expansive course offerings
At many schools, popular elective courses are often restricted to seniors or are filled by random selection because demand far exceeds available slots. That’s not a problem at UOS. In fact, UOS offers far more courses than many boundary schools.
In addition to traditional subjects like reading, art, history and math, UOS has courses like computer science, programming, coding, world languages (20-plus), music (guitar, ukulele, music theory and more), wildlife and marine biology, honors courses and ACT prep.
Do you have a student who will be old enough to drive? UOS offers drivers education that includes the curriculum and simulator requirements. Students can also earn physical education credit for participating in any physical activity they are involved in, privately or through club sports. Students receiving private music instruction can earn high school credit through the Independent Studio Study course, which can be taken repeatedly as long as they are in music or voice lessons with an instructor.
You can see the vast list of course offerings at the UOS website and the list of available subjects is constantly growing.
A record of success
Utah Online School serves more than 10,000 students each year with more than 150 teachers, counselors and staff. In 15-plus years, the cumulative total of students served has exceeded 110,000. Those numbers continue to rise as parents seek ways to provide their children with the best available education.
Over that time UOS has achieved a course completion rate exceeding 90{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf} and a graduation rate of 99{e4f787673fbda589a16c4acddca5ba6fa1cbf0bc0eb53f36e5f8309f6ee846cf}.
Teachers and staff at Utah Online School are highly qualified, licensed and certified. They are also passionate about helping students. “I am able to customize and individualize content for students’ specific needs in a way that was not possible previously. And as someone who went into education because I truly love teaching high school kids and love this age group in general, this has been a dream job!” says teacher Kellie Richins.
Madison Belnap, another teacher at Utah Online School says, “Teaching for Utah Online High School is a privilege. I love the opportunity to teach students from all over the state, with diverse backgrounds and varying circumstances. Connecting with these different students is so expanding for me as their lives add a level of abundance to my experience as an educator.”
Whether your student is seeking part-time, full-time or concurrent enrollment, Utah Online School has the experience and expertise to help them find educational success.
