As schools across South Carolina and the nation struggle with helping students regain lost ground due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Lowcountry Acceleration Academy celebrated its biggest-ever class of grads.

After facing bullying in elementary and middle school, Anaya Garnes decided she was going to map her own way through high school. During the Covid pandemic, she shifted to an online program but found that working alone too often meant feeling abandoned by her teachers.

Each Wednesday morning at Lowcountry Acceleration Academy, a successful professional visits to tell graduation candidates about their journeys — and inspire the learners to plan their own.

Mako Velez is a strong student from a family that values education. Until she found Marion County Acceleration Academies, though, she had begun to wonder if a high school diploma was within her grasp.

An $80,000-plus annual salary, a career turning creative ideas into video games and data visualizations, even a Bronze Star in the U.S. Army — all these and much more can come your way if you learn skills in the expanding world of computer coding.

An auditorium packed with family, friends and educators gathered this weekend in Las Vegas to celebrate 100 new graduates from Clark County Acceleration Academies — the biggest class since the program began in 2018.

It wasn’t so long ago that Bo Falcon felt lost, struggling with mental health issues, abusing drugs and straining to put one step in front of the other. As for high school, Bo says, “I was actively not doing any work at my old school, not caring.”

As her daughter struggled to find way through many challenges — running away, dropping out of school, becoming a teen mom — Joanne Vasquez had a powerful sense of déjà vu.

Justin Galvan grew up rough, in a neighborhood riddled with drugs and crime and a family that had seen more than its share of trouble. When he was in middle school, he and some friends were out at 3 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning.