It doesn’t matter when or where you earned your high school diploma, what road you took, how old you are or what year you were supposed to graduate.
That’s the mindset of Brandon Sueing, who just graduated from Bethel Acceleration Academy with his diploma — and, as he puts it, “No regrets.”
Brandon is 21 years old and was about to age out of BAA at the end of August. When he enrolled at BAA, “I was at that point where I didn’t care about school but I still wanted to keep going,” Brandon said. “I’m glad that I hung in there. There were times where I just felt like giving up but I’m glad that I reached out for help.”
Brandon appreciated the flexibility of BAA, being able to work school around his schedule. When he first attended BAA, he acknowledges, he didn’t take it quite as seriously as he could have.
But he says he was inspired by the one-on-one encouragement he received from staff members, including history/English coach Kevin Torres, former science coach Kevin Cummings, career/life coach Jennifer Hyppolite, former graduation candidate advocate and substitute science coach Craig Wheeler and GCA Jeanne Courtney.
“He’s a kind, very intelligent, highly capable young man,” Wheeler said. “I personally worked hard to visit his home on numerous occasions to get him back on track at the academy. I am happy to see he accomplished his goal of graduating.”
After he turned 18 and didn’t graduate with his cohort in the Class of 2017, Brandon had doubts about graduating at all and wondered if he should have stayed in a traditional high school.
“There were times where I felt like I should have just stayed at Spanaway Lake and tried to knock it out there, but then I realized I still had a chance” at BAA, Brandon said. “It’s never too late. I had to keep telling myself to keep my head up and keep going. I didn’t want to give up. It’s better late than never.”
Persevering through the next three years with obstacles in his path including needing to cut ties with counterproductive people in his life, Brandon faced another curveball when the Covid-19 pandemic hit during the final stretch. He was stuck at home and he knew he had to “put the pedal down” before his time at the academy ended.
“I knew my time was coming. I’m turning 21,” Brandon explained. “Through the pandemic, I had to keep pushing. I had to make something good out of this.”
This summer, Brandon completed world geography, his last class.
The pandemic doesn’t allow large gatherings, so the graduation ceremony that Brandon would have normally participated in wasn’t possible. The BAA team decided to bring graduation to him, showing up at his house and celebrating the accomplishment on his front lawn with his mother.
“I was thankful. I felt like I woke up in heaven because y’all woke me up. I was fresh out of bed, put my stuff on and walked outside. It was sunny out and y’all were out there with the music playing, I was like that’s a good ole time right now,” Brandon said. “I’ve got to make sure I remember this forever.”
Brandon is exploring his options for college right now. While he’s not entirely sure what he wants to do professionally, he has many interests —including photography, car mechanics, modeling and graphic design — that he could see himself making into a career.
“It kind of opens a door for me so I’m really focused on what’s coming up next,” Brandon said of earning his diploma. “I’m not focused on the past, I’m just focused on what I’ve got to do next.”