Em/Ashton's Graduation::22/52::May 26

(I told him to "smile"... so he closed his eyes really tight :) )


I'm so proud of her! At the beginning of the year, she was told that there was no possible way for her to graduate with her class at the charter school. The plan was to have her get as many credits as she could, and then take more classes at the adult high school.

Day 1 of school, she had a melt down. The next day, I checked her out of the charter school and headed to the alternative high school.

After jumping through hoops, I got her registered at the alternative high school, paid her fees, talked to the counselor, and learned that according to Utah State requirements for graduation, she was only .25 credit shy of graduation, as long as she passed all of her required classes throughout her senior year.

Well, the school and Emily worked miracles together, and she was done with all of her credits in March... which leads another story that I'd like to tell.

Emily has struggled with depression & anxiety for years and has had to be hospitalized for it. In March, with a week left in the term that she had been doing so well in, the depression kicked her butt and she had to go in for a week. She was disheartened, because at the charter school, it was so hard to make up a week at the same time as trying to keep caught up with the regular work that she ended up never catching up during the first term of her junior year. We were worried it was going to be the same scenario...

When I talked to the counselor, he said that he had talked to the teachers and had agreed that they would just freeze her grades where they were and she could be finished. I LOVE that school, the teachers, the counselors, and the administration! They treat students like people. At the beginning of the year, when she met with the counselor, he said that at their school, they believed in mutual respect: teachers showed respect to the students, and in return, the students were expected to show respect to the teachers. Emily was surprised and said, "That's not the way it was at my old school! Teachers don't show respect for students there." Unfortunately, she was telling the truth about many of the teachers there. I am amazed at the alternative school, and I couldn't be happier with her experience!

She has had a hard 4 years, and I couldn't be prouder of her that she stuck it out and saw it through! Congratulations to my 2015 Graduate! <3

♥ Melody