Posted May 19, 2014
The September flooding in Colorado overwhelmed many families and their homes. Aleyha Murphy, a senior at Denver Online High School, was one of those heavily impacted by the devastation the flooding brought.
Thinking back to September when the nightmare began, she said, “I remember my mom said, ‘It’s going to start flooding.’ When the rain started, the small break in the downpour led to naive thoughts. “We were like, Yay! We’re done! But then it just kept coming and coming and coming,” Murphy said. When the rain finally settled, Murphy’s bedroom and the family’s rec-room held about 6″-12″ of water. “It was like a sink running on high,” Murphy said about the water gushing into her family’s home from a crack in the foundation. Murphy’s bed and dresser were ruined, and many of her family’s belongings were completely damaged.
When eventually they were able to get all the water out of the downstairs, they quickly realized the problems had just started. When a contractor came in to pull up the baseboard on the wall, that’s when they found the mold. While the contractor seemed unconcerned, expressing that there was likely just a “small spot of mold,” Murphy’s mom was unconvinced. She cut into the walls and that’s where they found their biggest problem: black mold, and lots of it. “It was creepy. The best way to describe it is like potting soil. Like fuzzy bread,” Murphy expressed. By the end, 75% of their downstairs walls had to go.
“I was angry,” she said, “It was like my whole world was upside down.” She was not only upset that her environment was in shambles, but that their family’s landlord had never called to check in. “There were days when no one came to work on the walls. We were just sitting in rooms with holes in the walls,” Murphy said.
The flooding produced physical and emotional destruction for Murphy. But when the storms of life take their toll, a steadfast and flexible support system can make all the difference. “Everyone was very compassionate,” Murphy said about Denver Online High School. “They were willing to help me in any way I needed assistance. They were genuinely concerned for the safety and health of my family.” While Murphy’s home life had taken a heavy blow, Murphy expressed her gratitude toward her teachers for developing a plan to keep her on track, despite the setbacks dealing with the flooding.
As their house slowly got put back together, she acknowledged, “I didn’t want to stress anymore. I wanted to come up with an action plan.” She said her teachers gave her extensions in order to catch up and be successful in their classes. “I felt like with everyone being so supportive and understanding, I had no excuses.” So she got to work. With a determined spirit, she hired a math tutor so she could progress through math more efficiently, she borrowed computers, and she went to the library-whatever it took to get caught up. “That was my way of saying thank you and that I appreciate all of your support,” she said.
However, she hadn’t always had the school support system that Denver Online High School offered through that traumatic time. She had attended Colorado Virtual Academy (COVA) previously where she confessed, “It was bad in a sense because they kind of set me up to fail. No one ever called me; no one ever tried to make personal contact.” She said she struggled through her courses at COVA because the system was confusing and teachers didn’t respond nor communicate consistently. While she had thought she had had good grades, she realized at the very end of the course semester that she hadn’t been turning in her assignments correctly. So instead of doing well in the COVA class, she was actually doing very poorly due to a small problem that could have been caught early on. When comparing COVA to Denver Online, she said that when she wasn’t using the system properly at Denver Online, her teachers let her know within the first week of the course.
While it is sometimes challenging creating personal connections in an online school, Murphy expressed, “I love my teachers. I feel comfortable approaching them. This is definitely the best homeschooling option that Colorado can provide. Honestly.” To show her thanks, Murphy even delivered little presents to Denver Online faculty as shown in the picture below.
Murphy graduates this year from high school and will go on to attend Arapahoe Community College where she will eventually transfer to a four year college. She is excited to earn a Bachelor’s in Music Business Management or Criminal Justice.
While sometimes we might feel defeated by the rain, or not important enough to be helped through the struggles life brings, the right school can provide that sense of safety, support, and positive motivation for students during trying times. “I am just so grateful I found your school. Seriously, without you I wouldn’t have been able to get through it all. You guys were my rock.”