Washington Virtual Academies High School’s graduation was tiny by most high school standards, but nonetheless historic.
Seven of the 13 members of the inaugural graduating class of the online high school participated in the first commencement ceremonies Saturday at the Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Center.
Keynote speaker former state Rep. Gigi Talcott called the graduates educational pioneers.
“You’re paving the pathway for thousands, I believe, millions. Perhaps even your own children will follow in your footsteps in online learning,” Talcott said.
“... You are already demonstrating your leadership. For you, online education, is a normal, everyday experience. Yet most of our state’s most powerful leaders who write the laws and spend billions ... of taxpayers’ dollars for educating a million public school students in our state have never seen a single online lesson.”
The female graduates wore teal, and the lone male wore black, caps and gowns. Once deemed graduated, they flipped their tassels from the right side of their mortar board to the left.
The virtual school is part of the Monroe Public Schools, and a sister program to the Steilacoom Historical School District’s Washington Virtual Academy. The Steilacoom program offers instruction in kindergarten through eighth grade. The high school program started with ninth and tenth grades last school year, and added 11th and 12th grades this year.
They’re among a growing number of virtual instruction programs offered by, or in partnership, with school districts in Washington.
Students must take state-mandated tests and meet the same graduation requirements as other students in the school district.
In the WAVA high school program, teens study independently under the supervision of a certificated teacher. Students contact teachers through e-mail, telephone or real-time computer connections for “live” classes with other students.
Teachers are certificated and many have attained National Board certification, several instructors said at the graduation reception. They said they consider the curriculum, through Virginia-based k12.com, more rigorous than that of traditional schools.
Besides taking courses, WAVA teens can gather in real time on the computer to participate in activities: art club, music club, chess club, movie club and yearbook club. The yearbook staff produced a hardback yearbook compiling staff and student photographs that were collected on-line.
The WAVA graduation ceremonies will no doubt grow quickly in coming years. More than 800 students enrolled in Washington Virtual Academies High School this school year, said principal Gerry Grubbs.
Graduates Julianne Baggett and Jordan Short said they went the online route for the flexibility to set their school hours.
“I’m not a morning person,” said Baggett, who formerly attended Puyallup High School. She spent the past semester at WAVA high school studying Spanish, English, history, and fine art, and, her grandmother noted, pulled down straight A’s. “It was a lot more challenging,” than traditional school, Baggett said. “but it was better.”
She plans to study business at Pierce College.
Meanwhile, Short wanted the flexible hours so he could get a job, plus watch his siblings when his parents were gone.
The 19-year-old found the difficulty of the classwork comparable to that at his former school, Kentwood High School. Next, he plans to study filmmaking and acting.
The only downside to online classes? “You dont get to spend a lot of time with your other schoolmates,” Short said, “but if you have friends outside of school its fine.”
DEBBY ABE: 253-597-8694
debby.abe@thenewstribune.com
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