A Day in the Life of a Holston Academy Student: Daniel
Student: Daniel
Grade: 11
Hobbies: Surfing, coding, 3D printing club
Location: San Diego, CA
Why Holston
Daniel is a junior in high school who attends a local public school in San Diego, California. Daniel has decided he’d like to pursue a career as an engineer, and knows taking Advanced Placement courses will give him an edge when applying to colleges. Since his high school doesn’t offer AP Calculus AB or BC, or AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism, he decided to take these courses online through an accredited private school, which is how he found Holston Academy.
Daniel’s Courses
Daniel is taking AP Calculus AB his junior year, with plans to take AP Calculus BC and AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism Course during his senior year. He worked with his school counselor to set up his schedule with one dedicated study hall each day for him to complete his AP Calculus coursework, and another study hall three times per week to tackle his AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism work.
A Typical Day for Daniel
7:30 am
Daniel arrives at his traditional brick-and-mortar high school at 7:30 am, where he begins his day.
11:00 am
Daniel has his first study hall of the day, where he focuses on his AP Calculus AB course work. Daniel logs into the Holston Academy Learning Management System using his laptop and navigates the lessons. If a concept needs more explanation, Daniel will email his teacher for help and they will work back and forth through the problem over email.
2:30 pm
On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 2:30 pm, Daniel’s second study hall of the day is spent working on his AP Physics C: Electricity and Magnetism coursework.
4:00 pm
If he needs additional support from his teachers, he will set up a meeting with them for 4:00 pm, when he gets home from school so they can work through the concepts together over video chat.
5:30 pm
Daniel has dinner with his family and spends his evening downtime on his computer or watching a movie with his siblings.
Why did you enroll in online courses?
“I started looking into online courses to add onto my transcripts when I realized my dream of becoming an engineer. My friend’s dad is an engineer and I spent some time last summer shadowing him at work and realized how cool it would be to do as a career. I plan to apply to a University of California school for engineering, so I knew it would be a good idea to take some AP courses that were UC approved. Since my high school doesn’t offer the specific ones I was interested in, my school counselor recommended I enroll in an online course at an accredited school that could give me teacher support and an accredited transcript when I finished the course.”
How does online school help you achieve your goals?
“Enrolling in these online Advanced Placement courses is bringing me closer to my dream of becoming an engineer. I’m excited to add these courses to my transcripts when I apply to college. Taking these advanced courses will show colleges and Universities the level of rigorous academics that I can excel in, which will give me a leg up in the admissions process.”