Sometimes, the traditional high school life can be rough. Between the large classrooms, peer pressure and at times bullying, showing up to school every day can be a challenge. That’s why at Primavera, we work to provide a safe environment for our students to come feel comfortable and focus on earning their high school diplomas.

For Christina, Primavera became a safe haven. Although she is graduated, Christina was not always on the path to earning a high school diploma. Check out her story below to see how Christina was able to overcome her challenges by switching to Primavera.

I Can Pursue My Passion: The Story of Christina Carmichael

Christina is a sophomore here at Primavera Online High School who enjoys being with friends and spending time with her three small dogs. With Primavera’s flexible schedule, Christina has been able to discover some of her greatest passions: writing and poetry.

“I’m a passionate writer. I journal, but I also write poems. I put all my passion, all my frustration and all my hard work into my poems,” said Christina. “They’re what drive me. In these poems, they’re about the struggles that I’ve gone through and what I’ve come to find out through those struggles.”

Some of those struggles Christina writes about had to do with the past influences in her life. Before Primavera, Christina told us she was surrounded with friends who didn’t care about her well-being. With being more concerned about the “social aspect,” as Christina stated, she found her grades started to drop. After about a year or so, Christina knew she needed to escape her environment.

“I have been in hospitals and rehabs, in and out of them, and it was hard for me to do school there,” said Christina. “I knew I needed some place–a school–that could help my transition into reality.”

From there, Christina searched and found Primavera. With just two, 100% online courses every six weeks, Christina felt like she would be able to focus and get back on track. Once she started, it didn’t take long before Christina started seeing improvements in her grades and character, as Christina put it.

“I achieved such a turnaround with Primavera, because I don’t have the bad influences,” said Christina.  “I have good support systems that check up on me and say, ‘Hey, did you do your work? Are you where you’re supposed to be, and do you need help?’ Because of who they (Primavera instructors) are and what they do, I get to have my freedom back, and for me, that’s amazing.”

With her newfound love for education and flexibility in her schedule, Christina took the time to develop her talent as a poet. Her biggest inspiration comes from her past struggles. As Christina said, if she can help another student overcome his or her struggles, it gives meaning to her poems.

“My poems are not butterflies and rainbows. They are of things I’ve struggled with in the past and in some ways I still struggle,” said Christina. “These pieces are very personal, but I want to make sure any other kids who’ve been through this stuff or is going through it right now know that they’re not alone.”

To see one of Christina’s inspirational poems, check out our Panther Post.

 

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