Twin siblings Michael and Catherine Gorey have been at Lowcountry Acceleration Academy since the day it opened in 2021, and they’ve felt at home ever since.

From the time he was young, Christian Johnson has been a gifted trumpet player. That spark grew into a flame when he was in fourth grade and got invited backstage to meet legendary trumpeter Wynton Marsalis.

When schools finally reopened after being closed for months during the Covid pandemic, Olivia Jones had fallen far behind. And the large, traditional high school to which she returned only made things worse.

Walk into Acceleration Academies of Ector County and you will find sisters Alliyah and Kaisa Navarrette hard at work on the courses needed to earn their high school diplomas and move in the direction of their dreams.

For Summer Worthington, high school was hard enough. The crowded classrooms and lack of hands-on help combined with turmoil in her personal life to make her decide to drop out.

Like so many Americans, high schooler Nayeli Serna got sick with Covid — so sick that she had to be hospitalized for a week. Her anxiety about falling ill again combined with an already present social anxiety to make her consider dropping out rather than returning to a large, traditional school.

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.

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.”

When it comes to describing her experience at Lowcountry Acceleration Academy, LaDayshia Tavelle doesn’t mince words.