October 1, 2024 | Jeffrey Good
Two years ago, Mako Velez had given up hope of earning a high school diploma and was prepared to settle for a GED. But one night when she and her family sat down for dinner, the phone rang.
It was a representative from Acceleration Academies, calling to tell her about a program that would allow her to chart her own path through high school rather than follow the one-size-fits-all approach that had left her feeling adrift.
“I thought to myself, ‘Why would I ever want to do that?’ ” Mako, 19, told the crowd gathered to celebrate the Marion County Acceleration Academies (MCAA) Class of 2024. “I had convinced myself that I was hopeless and that I should give up completely. But my parents told me that this could be a really good thing and that I should take advantage of the opportunity presented to me.
“I think I left the table with another eye roll and a ‘whatever’ — but I thought about it and it lingered in my head for a bit and I thought to myself that I had nothing to lose, and I decided to go ahead and enroll,” Mako continued.
She’s glad she did. Rather than dropping out or attempting the rigorous and expensive GED, Mako — one of the first graduation candidates at an academy that opened in 2022 — not only received her diploma but was chosen to give the commencement address.
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Like her fellow grads, Mako had never felt at home in traditional school. Her creative way of dressing left her feeling out of place among her peers. Her quiet, artistic nature struggled to find a place in crowded classrooms and a perplexing social dynamic. Overwhelmed teachers didn’t seem to have the time to see and know her as an individual.
All that changed when she walked into the MCAA campus in Ocala, Florida. Rather than frenetic hallways, she found a calm learning environment. If she needed help in a course or wanted to talk through personal challenges, there was always a teacher, counselor or mentor ready to listen, guide and encourage.
At one point, she was dealing with a diagnosis Type 1 diabetes and the changes she would have to make to deal with it.
“Thanks to the flexibility of Acceleration Academies I felt as though I could breathe,” Mako recalled. “I’m not sure how I would have dealt with my diagnosis alongside my other ailments in a traditional educational environment. I won’t lie, I’m an easily overwhelmed person and thankfully I didn’t feel that way during that difficult transitional period of my life. That is something I will always be grateful for.”
At MCAA, Mako found herself surrounded by young people who had experienced similar frustrations in traditional settings and who wanted to chart their own, individual paths through high school and into adulthood.
“This school brings people with very similar backgrounds. All my friends are very different but at the same time we can relate to each other,” Mako said in an interview. “We’re all basically in the same boat. There’s not really any room for judgment. We’re all there doing the same thing, which is trying to graduate.”
And graduate they did, celebrating their diplomas and making plans to move on toward college and career. Mako, a gifted creative, is laying the groundwork for a career in tattooing and other body art.
“I thought this is going to be just like every other school. I’m going to fail and I’m going to leave. The main word I always repeated in my head was, ‘Whatever,’ ” she says.
Instead, course by course, she made her way to her goal. “Every time I was through another course, I’d say ‘Hey, I’m doing it!”
Check out a gallery of images from graduation day by photographer Casey Brooke Lawson by clicking here.