I am the coordinator for the Cyber Academy for high school dropouts who have decided they want to come back to school to earn their high school diplomas. Also, I’m in charge of arranging speakers for our special interest groups. For instance, instructors from Pioneer Tech and Oklahoma State University. Plans are made to have human resources to come to teach students how to interview, fill out applications, create a resume, and arranging counseling sessions, etc.
This is one of the most rewarding jobs I’ve had, besides writing. I love talking to teens who’ve had a tough start in life, and who are determined to get their degrees. Several have discovered that it’s nearly impossible to get a decent job without a diploma. They don’t want to work as a hard laborer for the rest of their lives. I’m telling you, I’m getting lots of fodder for mine and Audrey’s books. There are so many heroes and heroines I can see us developing in our future stories. This is exactly what I needed to give my writing a jump start again!
Too, I’m teaching eighth grade language arts at the alternative school, and I’m in charge of the Fast ForWard Reading Program. The students there are ones who either don’t like the crowds at the middle or high school and have chosen to be in smaller classes at the alternative school, or ones who have been kicked out of school for drugs, fighting, emotional problems, or other reasons like teen pregnancy, rough family lives where they missed too much school.
It’s challenging and I’m constantly urging them to take control of their lives, to get their eighth grade behind them so they can go on and finish high school. So I’m sure you can imagine how much this is helping me in writing this teen novel. The kids have a lot of conflict to deal with at home, school, with their peers.
What is your biggest challenge as a teen? I would love to hear!
