Where Are They Now: Acton Academy Hampton Roads Graduate

Our first official graduate (class of 2020) turned 18 this past Friday. She has one semester left at Old Dominion University before graduating with a bachelor’s degree in biomedical science and then plans to attend medical school to become an MD. She has a 4.0 GPA and presented her chemistry research, for which she received funding, at the ODU Poster Symposium this weekend. She has never diagrammed a sentence and would probably fail a public school SOL.

What did she learn at Acton? She learned how to learn, how to set goals and accomplish them, to have a growth mindset, strong work ethic, and to be resilient. She learned she is 100% in control of her life and the outcome. And finally, she learned what it means to be a good person with extraordinary character.

I’m often asked what she did as far as academics go. Many people assume she went to a college prep school because of her age. She did math on Khan Academy almost daily, setting a goal of 1 or 2%. She enjoyed reading and playing Minecraft. She spent some time riding horses and learning how to train our dog and building obstacle courses for him. She taught herself to play a few songs on the keyboard, did acro-yoga and photography with her friends for a little while, and learned Spanish on Duo-Lingo. She played with Legos and became passionate about BJJ at age 5 or 6; that is the one thing she stuck with. From what I remember, most of her time was spent helping younger learners.

She was 13 when she decided to take the SATs two weeks later. She had never taken a test and wanted to see what was on it to prepare to really take it. She spent those two weeks using the SAT Prep on Khan Academy, and while she has asked me not to share her score, her first attempt was high enough for her to receive a full academic scholarship to our local university. This was in 2020, at the height of the Covid Pandemic. Even though our school did not shut down, most of her friends chose to stay home. Out of boredom, she decided to go ahead and graduate to pursue her Bachelor’s Degree at Old Dominion University.

Sometimes, it can be hard to see the big picture when your child seems to do a little of this and a little of that. Sometimes, you think they have found their passion, and then they quit and move on to something else. (Check out my thoughts on quitting here and why I didn’t allow my children or learners to quit without working on something for six weeks). They are building the person they are going to become. We are all products of our environment, experiences, and knowledge. A learner-driven environment allows your child to discover who they truly are.