Posted April 12, 2017
Due dates. What is the key to being ready when they come, to meeting them successfully?
“When I first came to Denver Online, I had just got out of a traditional brick and mortar school. I was failing. I was two years behind,” said Denver Online High School senior, Teja Bevill.
A concussion playing volleyball sparked the downward trend.
“I got this onset of migraines that was, just, I had never dealt with in this manner where it was every day. It was consistent. They were powerful, and I just stopped going to school,” she said.
So she transitioned to Denver Online where she could take breaks as needed. However, school remained a source of trouble, until this last year.
“Teja has made a pretty amazing comeback this year. She’s one of those students that we had meeting after meeting after meeting with her trying to figure out what was going to work. And I think this year, multiple things came into play for her and she was able to really find the inner strength to, and the motivation, and the drive to say, ?I’m going to get this done,’ Denver Online High School Principal, Ian Jones, remarked.
“We weren’t even anticipating me to graduate this year. Everyone was kind of like, ?Yeah we will give you the nine classes, see if you can do it,’ but I was like, ?I have no choice. I won’t be here another year longer or I will just have to drop out because I can’t focus on this anymore,'” she noted, recognizing her new pregnancy.
With moving out on her own, having a baby due in October, and trying to graduate in May, Teja found a way to manage all of her due dates. Working weekend shifts at Buffalo Wild Wings, she also works five days a week at Maximus as a Consolidated Service Representative, waking up at 5:30am and getting home ten hours later.
“I know immediately as soon as I get home I need to do my work. Because if I don’t do my work, I will be up even later, even later, and even later. So work always comes after getting home from work,” she said.
Her advice to others who may be behind?
“I had to get over the fact that I may not have the time to do the things that I want to do. I had to get over the fact that I wasn’t graduating with my class,” Bevill noted. “But that in itself woke me up because my friends were like, ?You were in our class, so why are you saying you’re graduating this year?’ You know, that’s embarrassing to a point. So there’s a lot of things that you have to give up in order for you to catch up on, you know, make up for all the time that you missed.”
“For me it doesn’t really matter philosophically when a student graduates. For me, it’s about that they graduate. And I think that’s one of the things we communicate to our students, that sometimes you fall behind but it’s not be something to discourage them but to basically say, ?Let’s get this done, and let’s get it done together,'” Principal Ian Jones said.
With graduation in sight, Bevill said, “I don’t want to cry, but every time I think about it I start crying because it’s been a very long, long road getting here.”