Hear From Real Students and Graduates

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[Music]
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my name is Gabriella Scott and I
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graduated from pen Foster High School I
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heard about pen Foster just through the
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internet Co made me seek out an online
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program for sure I just looked up a
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bunch of programs like high school
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programs and I thought it was a good fit
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I had already finished two of my high
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school years in person so I was like
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yeah I got to find something I can do at
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my own pace what made me choose pen
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Foster was definitely all of the
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positive
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reviews they they were just speaking so
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highly of it and I was like oh okay I
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was just so excited to get my little
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laptop and to make my own schedule and
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all of that throughout the program I
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felt like I was retaining a lot of the
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things that I was learning because I
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didn't feel the pressure of tests
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deadlines and oh I have to just make
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sure I memorize it so I can get a good
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score on the test and then that's it I
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felt like I had time to process
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everything and then if I didn't
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understand something I could go back
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before I moved on to the next subject I
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think I excelled at the vocabulary
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aspect because even to this day I feel
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like sometimes it like registers in my
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mind of oh yeah I remember I learned
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that at pen Foster I feel really good
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about the support I received I only had
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to ask a few things because already the
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layout was like so informative so I feel
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like I didn't even need that too much
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which is awesome but when I did have to
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speak to them or message the little
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thing um they were really helpful and
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like eager to help some challenges that
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I faced while working through it were
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probably making sure that I didn't get
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complacent and be like uh maybe I can
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just skip like 5 days you know just
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because it was at your own pace I was
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like I'm waking up I have to do it like
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for like an hour and a half I feel like
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I experienced a lot of things just from
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graduating early I booked my biggest
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role and I got to go to Utah and perform
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at a theater called tuon Amphitheater
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and I played Violet in the regional
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premiere of Charlie and the Chocolate
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Factory which was amazing and one of the
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things that they actually brought up in
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the call back room was that oh my
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goodness wait you you already graduated
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that's awesome cuz usually we have to
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pay for a tutor and this and that so
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that was definitely a plus and then I
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filmed a feature film so I'm definitely
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going to continue my acting goals and
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continue submitting for things voice
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over and all of that I always told
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myself if I ever wanted to go to college
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I'm definitely coming back and doing pen
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Foster so I'm interested in doing their
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fitness and health certificate it really
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took away a lot of my stress I feel like
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I was able to enjoy the rest of my teen
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years especially since it was so messed
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up because of covid I just I finished my
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program and then I was able to live life
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and I could just have fun and yeah do
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what I wanted basically within
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reason if somebody's considering
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enrolling in pen Foster definitely do it
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stop looking anywhere else and just do
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pen Foster because it's amazing you get
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so much information the the setup is
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amazing it made you kind of want to do
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it it didn't feel like a hassle or oh I
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have to go to class it felt fun three
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words to describe how I feel now that
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I'm a
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graduate
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complete optimistic
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and
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joyful pen Foster is an amazing program
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and I encourage anyone who struggles in
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school maybe you need a different uh
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atmosphere and just try it out and you
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might discover that you love it
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[Music]

Lauren: Hello and welcome to our alumni spotlight. My name is Lauren and I have the privilege of sharing the stories of our students and alumni here at Penn Foster. And today we're talking to one of our amazing graduate of the year finalists. Each year we recognize and celebrate graduates who have not only completed their programs, but have shown dedication, resilience and passion in their personal and professional lives. And their achievements just make us so proud. All right, so today our guest is Wyatt and he is a new graduate at Penn Foster High School.

 

Welcome, Wyatt. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me today.

 

Wyatt: Yeah, thank you for having me on. Such an amazing opportunity.

 

Lauren: Yeah, and congratulations. I mean, out of over 500 applications, you were one of the five selected as a finalist.

 

Wyatt: So I know that was a man. That was such a like a mind blowing moment. I couldn't believe it, but here we are.

Lauren: So what were you doing before you decided to enroll in Pem Foster?



Wyatt: So before Penn Foster, I was in public school. So I was in public school, you know, from the very beginning, like preschool all the way to junior high. It was when after junior high was COVID. And so there was a year in which I had a lot of online courses with the junior high still, but just a lot of online courses. And so that was before Penn Foster. And that was about



That was twenty twenty one like the summer of twenty twenty one, because that's when I got out of junior high. Yeah. So that was before Pem Foster.



Lauren: Was that a challenge going from a traditional classroom setting to being online?



Wyatt: Yes. So it was. I think, you know, I don't speak for myself on this, definitely. It was something we all, and I've talked to many of my friends about this, something we all had our differences on. A lot of people loved the new online thing. Me personally, I did pretty okay. I did pretty well with the online thing, both in person and online. I was fine with either one. But a lot of friends, they had such a hard transition. They needed in person school.



So that was a hard transition. But for me personally, I loved it. I loved the idea of being at my own pace, doing my work on my own time, because that could mean I could take a few days off and then work up or work for those few days off. And I like that being the creator of my own schedule. And so that's what I liked about it.



Lauren: Yeah, I have three children. I was doing going from especially a kindergartner being in school for just a few months and then having to go online, that was difficult. yeah. Yeah. So it's yeah. It was tough for for everyone, but some kids definitely were adapted better and thrived on it more than others for sure. It's good to hear that you think it was a good fit for you, though.



Wyatt: I made it. Yeah, it can be done.



Lauren: What made you decide to choose Penn Foster over all of the other online high school options?



Wyatt: Well, it was definitely a god thing because we were considering all these different options. mean, my parent, my older siblings, I have two older siblings. So they both were already through college at this point. And so they were very steadfast and hard fast on school, going to school. This online thing was something they were unfamiliar with, but still not fully supporting. They didn't know a lot about it. So I can understand where they were coming from.

But they also went to public school their whole life. And so they, you know, they both going to four year universities were very like, Hey, I mean, this kid needs college. He needs a school. can go to, he's that experience. That's what a lot of people told me actually. And so a lot of doors opened up a lot of considerations. We had a lot of things on our mind. And so my parents were with me through the whole thing. I mean, I loved them to death. Thank God for my parents. mean, they were amazing. They helped me so much. They were there to support me.

When I went even I didn't even know what I was doing, you know. And so we made a few calls, talked to people who suggested Penn Foster and got open doors. And my dad was like, you know what? I think he did well in this in this online schooling thing. And I voiced that I really liked it and I would be open to being homeschooled. I would want to be homeschooled. And so God opened doors and and then I applied. And here we are one of the grand finalists. So yeah.

Lauren: Well, that's great that that it was a pretty clear path for you and that you had the resources in the end, the support that's super important. yeah. Especially your home all day.

Wyatt: Yeah. Yeah. I have to be going out and having fun because you have the time to do that. Yeah. Throughout this whole thing. mean, it was all it was all God and all my parents. You know, I I would not be here without them. Wonderful.

Well, what did you like about what's your favorite part about online school? here we go. OK. So as I mentioned before, the at your own pace, I really, really enjoyed that. As for my favorite thing, just being home, being with my family, being more available for my family, being, you know, being able to go to certain things and being open to going to certain things because I was homeschooled, I could either catch up or

work ahead for that. If I had to take a week to go to a conference or something, then I would work ahead for that or I would catch up the week after. And so this gave me so much more freedom than I think I would have ever had in high school. Church events, those things I volunteer for, my ministry, those things probably I would have never been available for had I gone to high school. So I love that. Absolutely love the fact.

that I was able to build my own schedule, do my own things, and even accomplish more than maybe my peers in high school were accomplishing. By building my own schedule instead of working and conforming to the school schedule and what they had for me, I can make my own schedule. I can work at my own pace, which I think is a big disadvantage for a lot of the public schools. You're forced into this set schedule and you have to work these certain times. And it really worked for me.

at least to build my own schedule. No, that's great. know?

Lauren
Yeah, no, that's that's wonderful that you have that flexibility and that you can do the things during the week and you're not limited to just after school and on weekends, because that's that's not a lot of time to live your whole life.

Wyatt: Yeah, even then. I mean, our district recently, they they changed the hours. So kids start later in the day. I mean, they get home, no sports or anything.

mind you, they get home at like four at least. And that's, mean, that's like what, two hours until dinner? You know, and so that's a lot. I'm like, I can imagine homework would take maybe two to three hours. So you're working until dinner. And then I mean, what are you going to do with the rest of your night? And so, you know, being able to create my own schedule, I mean, there were times when I, you know, I think my latest night I stayed up was three AM. And, you know, people would look at me crazy, like, okay, it's like your own pace. Like, why are you staying up?

till 12 a 3 a but it was my own set schedule. I knew what I was gonna do that day. And it was also so I could catch up. I think that was actually one of the times before travel, know, the time of traveling I had. I worked for that. I worked till 3 a because otherwise I wouldn't be able to go. so, you know, establishing that and being able to do that on my own really not only helped me in my own schedule and being able to spend more time with my family and

being with them, right? But it also helped me personally to learn discipline and learn scheduling, which no doubt will help me in the future.

Lauren
Yeah, absolutely. Having that, being able to be self motivated and not have someone like having to stand over you, telling you your next steps. Cause in the real world, you don't have people doing that.

Wyatt
Yeah, no. That's the thing with, with a penn foster, you're going to have to excuse me. I'm going to go off a little for a little bit here, but that's thing with with Penn Foster that I enjoyed so much, know, there were times when I really did not want to do anything. I mean, I was sitting at my desk all day, probably doing anything I could other than schoolwork, you know. And so it was when I finally I think it was it was like the latter maybe like the last six months of my course. I really started to pick things up, started to discipline more. And that was also conveniently when I had a goal, an end goal.

which all kind of contributes, which maybe we can talk more about this later in my journey, my story, as you mentioned, you wanted to hear. But it helps me establish these skills and this goal setting that I can use in the future. Discipline, self -discipline, I was able to apply that in the college I went to after I graduated. I was able to apply that. I was able to help other students apply that. And so it was a very important lesson that I

Maybe I could have learned in high school, maybe, but I doubt it.

Lauren: Yeah, no, absolutely. No. And so have you already started college? So what's your timeline here? Why?

Wyatt: OK, about that. So my timeline. OK, so here I started when I was 14. I graduated when I was 15. And so then after that, I had about six months before I went into college. It was just a time of, you know, kind of finding out where God wanted me, kind of finding out what my family wanted to do, what we were doing. We had a lot of things going on in our family at the time, so was really hard to kind of sit down and focus on that. Meaning, you know, this is like the next, you know, three years of your life, and this is going to set the course for the next 15, 20, 30 years of your life and where you're going to work, right? So, you know, it's something you got to really think about. And so, you know, we didn't have a really like, we talked about it like, hey, we need to start.

Wyatt: Courses, like what are you going to do? I was like, think about this, think about this. And so obviously my parents were there. They pushed me, not hard, not too hard, but they pushed me and they encouraged me. We found some other courses I was taking. So I took some math, did some reading, a lot of that. And they helped me with that just to prepare, kind of think, kind of understand. And so after that six months, I knew what I was going to do, computer science. I want to be a software engineer.

Wyatt: That's what I want to do. And so then that's when we started moving towards this. There's an online college I found very similar to the Penn Foster format at your own pace. I can get my bachelor's in computer science in two years. So what do we need for that? Well, I need to pass, I think it was 2.75 or greater in a math class, a certain math class, but like a very specific one. And then my parents wanted me to take English.

Wyatt: It's a good skill to have. Lot of people, and Penn Foster teaches this as well, reading, writing, and literature, it's a lot of reading comprehension, and I think a lot of people dislike it. But as much as you dislike it, it is probably one of the most applied skills you will ever use in life. No matter what job you use, I mean,

Wyatt: From English teacher to YouTuber. I mean, you are writing things, you are reading things, you have to read, understand, comprehend these things. So Penn Foster teaches that, and so I had to learn that for myself as well. My parents are avid readers. My sister was an English major, actually. My brother was very talented when it came to English, and so they all pushed me and understood like, need writing in your life. And so thank God for my family. I mean, I don't know where I'd be without them.

Wyatt: And so they, they pushed me for that English class. ⁓ so I took that, I took that and I, passed both of them. ⁓ and so I finished that up and then I am starting the two year program for my bachelor's this August and September, this, this fall, I should say.

Lauren: Awesome. And that's an online program as well?

Wyatt: Online program as well. It's what I'm used to. And I think I'm going to say, I, went in person for the, for the college college courses. And I did well either way. It was very familiar.

Wyatt: I made a lot of new friends. God really helped me for sure. it was definitely like, I think it was for the experience so I can understand what it's like to go to school, get your work, and kind of establish that rather than having this sort of, I'm my own boss type of mentality for so long. My parents wanted to make sure I was staying on point. so they were like, let's get you a teacher.

Wyatt: Just so you can get that experience before you go back online. And so I did that. And I actually really enjoyed it. I loved being back in that environment, having friends and such. You know, didn't get too involved in, you know, like events or anything like that. But I, you know, it was really fun. I enjoyed it. And so I enjoyed going back in person, but I'm going back online for future college.

Lauren: OK, cool. You like having a mix of the two.

Wyatt: Yeah, yeah, it was like that was.

Wyatt: Really my whole life and I think it's a very delicate balance because home school kids, I know home school kids and full public school kids and I know kids who are both home school kids, a lot of them, not all of them, a lot of them sometimes aren't as social as maybe public school kids would be. They're not used to making new friends all the time or meeting new people each and every day, right? And then kids in public school are totally used to that.

Wyatt: Almost like an introvert, extrovert kind of thing. Almost. But it's just how you grow up. And so I think one of the perfect things is having a mixture of both so you can experience both. And I think honestly, so you can find out what you like, what you personally like. I mean, you want to do college online or in person. Would you do better with people or without people? And so I think having both is really, important. And I think a lot of kids should

Wyatt: Try it because I didn't know how much I liked online learning until I was forced to do it. I would have never done it on my own. I don't think it ever would have become an option even if COVID had happened, right? And so, yeah, so I would have never done it, but I love it so much. I mean, the bulk of my college experience is going to be online. And so I think a lot of kids need to go out there and try both see what they like and obviously opportunities and

Wyatt: Doors will open and things will happen to maybe force you in a certain way. Maybe you can't do online, maybe you can't do in person, and that's totally fine. But I do think should the opportunity present itself, go for it. Try it out. Try something new. Again, I had no idea how much I would like online school, but here I am.

Lauren: Well, and I think you're right now that more students have been

Lauren: Forced to experience online classes. Like, I do kind of like this better than like having to get up early in the morning and my cat.

Wyatt: And yeah, well, that could.

Lauren: Yeah, I know. Right. It's yeah. It was an it's something that you wouldn't have gotten to experience otherwise. You're absolutely right. And so, I'm glad that that has opened up more because it's being in person going in person classes is not for everyone.

Lauren: Right. It's probably for most people. Like like you said, like you could do either and you thrive. You sound so smart and like so so I so. I mean, I really sure you know, you know, but yeah, some some kids really just don't fare well in an in-person school due to so many factors. So no, I love that that is an option now for sure. And that people like you can, you know, find a balance and then also

Lauren: Pursue a degree and not have it take four years because that gets very expensive too. The longer you're in school, more expensive it is. Awesome. Well, was there something about getting your diploma with Penn Foster that you didn't like?

Lauren: Good question.

Wyatt: Okay.

Lauren: Good question coming from a Penn Foster employee. I want to know. Wanted to ask.

Lauren: Yeah, right. That's good.

Wyatt: The parts were like, ehh.

Lauren: Yeah, right.

Wyatt: Let me think. One thing I did not like, but I've learned to appreciate, you know, I still don't like it, but I appreciate it now.

Wyatt: Okay.

Wyatt: Was, I mean, I'd say at least 80% of the course you do on Penn Foster is reading. I did not like that part, as I think maybe a lot of my friends would agree.

Wyatt: And maybe that's not a good thing. Reading is very important as I just said, right? No, but at the time I didn't really like having to read all of this. But the thing is at the moment I did not like it. It was a lot of work and it was kind of like, okay, now I have this two hour page to read now, okay. And then once you finish this, like, okay, okay, here's a one hour page. Here's more, yeah. It's constant, right? But I look back and I...

Wyatt: Appreciate it now because not only was that teaching me how to read, know, everybody almost everybody knows how to read right but the more you read the better you get at it and the better you will get at comprehension because and Foster’s Program is a lot of reading but it's comprehension What are you reading? What are you understanding what you're reading and a lot of these principles you apply in life and wherever it may be Whether it's a work email

Wyatt: Whether it's a legal document that you have to read, understand, read the fine print, you know? And so that part I didn't like in the moment, but I appreciate it now because I understand its importance and how much it's helped me now.

Lauren: Awesome. Do you feel like you're a much faster reader now?

Wyatt: Yes, I would say maybe after the countless hours of reading and Foster courses, I would, I sure hope I'm a faster reader.

Lauren: That is a skill that you have to like, have to stay on it your whole life. You could definitely lose that for sure.

Wyatt: Yeah, absolutely.

Lauren: That's I appreciate your honesty. Yeah, it's a lot of reading, but it is a lot of it. But you've nailed it, though. It's reading and understanding. It's because when you go out into the world, like you have to have you have to know what to look for to find answers to have that that media literacy. That's that

Lauren: Buzzword right now. Like, how do you know if something is real or not? Well, you learned how to discern whether something is fact or fiction from from reading comprehension. So you've nailed it. I love that.

Lauren: Well, thank you, Wyatt, so much for talking with me today. It was awesome.

Wyatt: Thank you for having me on.

Lauren: Yeah, no, thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me and congratulations on being a finalist again.

Wyatt: Yeah, we'll see what happens in the end.

Lauren: Yeah, your story is definitely going to inspire other people, other students just like you. You may not realize that there are options out there and that it’s not as scary as all of that.

Wyatt: Yeah, that’s great.

Lauren: Awesome. Well, cool. Well, thank you to everyone for listening and we'll be back soon with another great alumni story. So have a great day everyone. Bye.