Earning Your High School Diploma Abroad
Most people don’t know how difficult it can be to relocate to a new country, to have to make new friends and learn new customs. Even fewer have had to do it twice.
Genesis and Melissa Ortiz-Huerta are sisters who were born in Venezuela. They spent their early years there before political unrest forced them to flee. At only 6 and 7, respectively, Melissa and Genesis left behind everything they knew and moved to Colombia with their parents.
Readjusting to Life in a New Country
Assimilating in Colombia wasn’t easy - the girls were held back in school and needed to learn English to move forward. But it wasn’t all bad either - the sisters’ school offered various hands-on electives in the arts and agriculture. The school even had a farm with horses.
But only two years later, they we forced to move once again, this time from Colombia to Panama. The transition from Venezuela to Colombia was hard, but the change from Colombia to Panama was even more challenging.
“We didn’t get to say goodbye to our friends when having to leave Venezuela and moving to Colombia. We were little, so it didn’t seem like a big deal,” Melissa said. But in saying goodbye this time around, it definitely seemed like a big deal. The girls missed their old friends, struggled to assimilate into a new culture, and had difficulty making new friends.
Struggling in a New Country
Panama was a very different environment than either Colombia or Venezuela, and making friends was a challenge. They were disconnected by more than just culture - their life experiences were vastly different from their classmates, as well.
And school was no refuge either - their school wasn’t nearly the learner’s paradise that they’d had in Colombia. It lacked the same resources, and the girls felt disconnected from their teachers.
As the kind of students who always go above and beyond, Melissa and Genesis didn’t jive with their Panamanian teachers who wanted them to simply stick with what was being asked of them. With their wings clipped, the girls began to view school as a chore.
Moving Learning Online
After getting into a routine with their new life, Genesis and Melissa were hit with a new challenge: the pandemic. Schools were forced to shut their doors across the world, and the schools in Panama were no exception. Education moved online. The sisters started with ArchwayOnline, a school powered by Smart Schools, and absolutely fell in love.
Finally, they were able to direct their learning instead of being dependent on a teacher and whether or not that teacher liked them. They weren’t locked into learning about one thing - they could let their interests decide what they studied next. ArchwayOnline and Smart Schools provided the sisters with a lot of opportunities to further their learning, to grow as students, and to connect with their education.
Melissa’s transition to online school was a little uncomfortable at first, having spent her whole life in a traditional school with her friends all around regularly. But in time, she learned to love having the teacher right in front of her on the screen whenever she wanted and having the ability to go back and re-listen to the videos if she did not understand something.
Online education helped Melissa establish responsibilities, such as upholding dates and deadlines while still working at her own pace, on her own schedule. And the program allowed both of them to connect with their education again.
Smart Schools and ArchwayOnline students receive a mentor who helps walk them through the program and supports them in any way needed. The sisters have a strong relationship with their mentor, Christina. As Genesis says, “She has been so helpful and encouraging. She is like our Edgenuity mom.”
Making Space for Mental Health
Although Genesis struggled with depression when the pandemic hit, she learned to deal with it and grew in response to it. Instead of being a “total perfectionist,” she learned not to be so hard on herself. Now she understands how important it is to ease up on herself and take care of her mental well-being.
And although she lost friends through the pandemic, she also found her true friends. “Sometimes when you are with classmates every single day at school, you think everybody is your friend because you spend all your time with them. Thanks to the pandemic, I got to know the real ones. The ones that tried to keep that relationship alive through the pandemic are the ones I think are true friends.”
The pandemic also brought personal growth for Melissa as well. She learned a lot about herself, including becoming more spiritual. Reading and writing in her journal became significant outlets for her during the quarantine.
Fostering Success in Online Learning
ArchwayOnline is different from many other online schools because each student gets paired with a personal mentor who walks with them through their learning and supports them in any way they need. We can help you do the same.
Having someone in your corner can make all the difference in the world. We ensure that every student has a mentor to lean on and walk their journey together toward graduation. You are capable of achieving success as a student, and we want to be here to support you.
Charting Success for Online Learners
There have been unfair questions about the legitimacy of online learning, but by now, all current students will have some experience with it. While some schools and districts converted to virtual learning on the fly, Smart Schools was able to pull from a deep well of experience in online learning to ensure a rigorous learning experience that helped students master content at their own pace. Our students go on to many other experiences - back into traditional schools, onto universities, the military, and their careers.
While they’ve enjoyed their experience, and it’s been an important piece of their educational career, Melissa and Genesis plan to return to traditional classrooms or some hybrid learning experience to continue their studies beyond high school.
Genesis hopes to become a journalist one day. She is currently looking into several universities worldwide where she will continue to pursue this incredible goal of hers.
Melissa would like to go to New York University and study arts and music production if she chooses to attend college. Since she was little, it has been her dream to sing, act, produce movies, and study art. Her mom once said that when Melissa was young, she wouldn’t even talk, only sing.
Genesis and Melissa are the super sisters of Panama. If you spend even five minutes with them, you will walk away seeing the world in a brighter light. Their futures are no doubt going to be filled with excitement, adventure, and tons of immeasurable success.