Degrees of Separation...Aren't So Far Away!

(written by Rebecca Searles, Hope High School Online Coordinator)

While in the northern Arizona mountains over the Labor Day weekend, I was given the opportunity to share a bit about who I worked for (mind you this really doesn’t happen if ever so this was a great new opportunity for me).  I was away with my roommate and her family visiting her grandmother.  In a very small town, it seems that everyone knows each other and that was just the case that Sunday morning.  While in a local café sipping on a delicious breakfast smoothie, we ran into a very nice local woman who knew my roommate’s grandmother and a wonderful new conversation began as we all chatted about the latest and greatest.  The general question of “what do you do for a living” eventually popped up during this time.  This verbal window gave me the opportunity to share a little about Blueprint Education and Hope High School Online.  In turn, ironically, this woman informed me that her son had recently completed a class through another state funded online high school, which she, as well as her son, thought was just too easy for him.  She continued to mention that he would be needing to complete a Physics course because his current high school does not offer it.  It is a course that he wants to take because of the major he wishes to study when he enters into college.  She began asking me more questions relating to enrollment criteria for Hope High School Online.  Unfortunately, I had to inform her that Hope High School Online does not allow concurrent enrollments (students being enrolled in two Arizona state funded programs at the same time) because we do not wish to take money away from school districts.  I then moved the conversation towards Blueprint Education (which has a private tuition enrollment option) and informed her of what was available through that program.  I don’t know if anything will ever come from this brief encounter but it is always great to know that what I do everyday can reach out and really help students achieve their goals.