By Bella Watson
Staff Writer
Most high schoolers dream about not having to rush to school every morning and being able to do your class work wearing pjs. This is the norm for Emily Moran.
Moran is a 2016 graduate from Manhattan Beach Middle School, enrolled as a ninth grader at the prestigious Stanford online high school program. For her high school years, decided on attending Stanford’s OHS rather than a public local high school. By doing online school, Emily felt it would give her more flexibility in the day to do dance.
Photos: Manhattan Beach Middle School graduate Emily Moran enrolled in Stanford online high school
“I had decided on going to Stanford Online High School because I feel that it would give me a more individualized high school experience,” said Emily Moran. “I felt as if I would learn better in a smaller classroom environment.”
The admissions process was very detailed and an involved process. Moran had to submit samples of her school work from previous school years as well as writing a number of essays. The online high school allows Emily to take all her classes at home via her computer on the web.
Link: Learn about Stanford Online High School
The workload is a lot heavier at Stanford then most public high schools. Since the school is online, the students can not turn in the homework the next day at school, so their deadlines are typically the same day assigned due by a specific time that evening, which is a much shorter time period to complete assignments.
“My most challenging class this year would be Methodology of Science because the course covers several topics in statistics that I haven’t been exposed to before,” said Emily Moran. “It is quite challenging, but in the end I believe it is rewarding.”
Link: Learn about what it takes to go to Stanford
For the typical school days, students from all around the world open their computers and participate in class from home. Everyone’s schedule varies, from some starting at 6:30 am and others ending at 9 at night. Since the students do all their schooling online, they video chat as a class.
“Another reason I wanted to attend Stanford’s OHS is because of my strong interest in English, writing, and Science,” said Emily Moran. “At Stanford, there were several unique English and Science classes that sparked my interest and that I had not seen at other schools.”
Since the school is online, Moran does not get to see her classmates unlike students at Costa who see each other everyday. The OHS students do get to see each other at “meetups” which occur monthly. The school puts it together in order for the students to actual get to meet each other ad socialize. Sometimes the meet ups can be at places like Disneyland or just at someone’s home.
“Meet ups give me the opportunity to see old friends and make new ones,” said Emily Moran. “I, like most other OHS students, look forward to attending meet ups because they give me the opportunity to spend time with my classmates in person.”
Emily Moran is also the co-leader of the Brain Investigations Club, which she and a few others set up at Stanford OHS. Their club is welcoming to students who are interested in neuroscience and psychology. During the club meetings, Moran and the other co-leaders discuss with the members innovations in those fields.
“Once I joined the school, I met people who had the same interests as me, so we decided to make a club for our interest in psychology,” said Emily Moran. “I like our club because I feel as though it is really interesting to learn other people’s’ ideas rather than just my own.”
Another big reason students, including Emily Moran, do Stanford Online is because it gives them a better chance in being able to attend Stanford for college which has an acceptance rate 4.8%. Moran has hopes of going to Stanford for college, even though she is not 100% sure on what she wants to do when she grows up.
“I am striving to attend Stanford University after graduating high school and I feel that their online high school program will prepare me to enter college,” said Emily Moran.
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