Photo by Howard County Library System via Flickr
Marisa Wise: Cyber school has been the best choice for me
Cyber charters get a bad rap these days. But switching to a cyber charter was the best decision I made. The 2021–22 school year was the last time I attended a brick-and-mortar school. And I will be forever proud of myself for making that conscious choice to change schools.
I live in rural Pennsylvania, in a 180-year-old farmhouse, with my single mother and older brother. The area I live in has more cows than people. Sometimes, the isolation is nice — but not so much when it comes to my education. Aside from my local high school, I don’t have many other educational options.
In third grade, I had to take a test that asked about my race. At the time, I didn’t know what box to check. Race or ethnicity wasn’t something discussed in my household. For me and my family, it didn’t matter if you had all the colors of the rainbow because you were still just another human being experiencing all the human things. So, when my teacher told me I had to check the “black” box, I was very confused. I asked, “Why?” “Just do it,” she replied. The next time I took the test in 8th grade, I checked the “other” box and put “human.”
Throughout middle school, I experienced a new wave of racial hostility. One day, I talked to classmates about how I use a pick to untangle my hair. Someone said, “Isn’t that what black people use?” I stood there shell-shocked, as others chimed in, “Yes, I think so.” I couldn’t understand why it mattered. But for some reason, it did, so I figured maybe I was the problem.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only unsettling instance. Later that year, a male peer explained that I was “too opinionated” and shouldn’t “be allowed to speak.” In 9th grade, another classmate told me I was “blackfacing” because my Snapchat emoji had a darker skin color than mine. I tried to explain that I was biracial, so I wasn’t blackfacing. But he looked at me and said, “You’re too white to be black.”
After experiencing continued harassment, I had enough. I went to my guidance counselor to discuss switching to the school’s online option. “Only your brother was the exception in succeeding in our online program,” she told me. “You are an extrovert. You need to stay in-person, or you could worsen your grades.” (Mind you, my grades weren’t below 96 percent.)
Instead, I switched to a different school: Achievement House Cyber Charter School. In my first year at Achievement House, my grades improved. Every single quarter, I was on the honor roll. During my first year, I joined the Student Ambassador Program. I am one of the last original students who helped start the program. The program provided me with many opportunities, including attending the Pennsylvania Coalition of Public Charter Schools Annual Conference in Lancaster in 2023 and 2024. Those conferences gave me the chance to meet other Pennsylvania students in charter schools like me, and we got to share our stories.
In my second year, I joined the National Honor Society (NHS) and gained an internship that allowed me to learn about cultures across the world. In 2024, I worked with the Global Studies team to produce a recipe book that combined two cultures. I worked with students from not only the Achievement House but also the Loibor-Seit Secondary School, our buddy school in Tanzania. Throughout the project, I learned a lot about myself and others without leaving my home, something I could have never done at my former school.
Now, it is my third year at Achievement House, and I am still working as a Global Studies intern. Last week, I presented at the PETE&C Summit in Hershey, a conference for students to share and learn from one another. This year, I get to run my own global connections project. This project requires help, so I get to lead my NHS chapter on this task and expose them to something new. I’m also student body president. I got the position not based on high school popularity or having “special connections” but because I can be genuine at my school—unlike past experiences where I was shut down for being me.
I finally understand the phrase, “You don’t know what you don’t know.” If I hadn’t risked switching to a cyber charter school, I would have never known that education can be fun, fulfilling, and individualized. Hate doesn’t have to live in a classroom, nor do I have to put up with stereotypes, bullies, or other distractions. At Achievement House, I can breathe and be who I am without worrying about what others think.
If I had to go back and do it all over again, I would choose Achievement House again.
Marisa Wise, a resident of Bradford County, is a senior at Achievement House Cyber Charter School.
Now that you live in a world liberated from DEI. Do you believe that you will be subjected to similar behaviour in the workplace and have fewer protections?
What protections are you referring to that have been taken away?
Let’s start with DEI, that teaches children that just because someone is different doesn’t mean you can bully and harass them. Or because of a lack of DEI training she will be treated like every other student even though she is being treated differently from the other students.
President Donald Trump revoked executive order 11246, signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965. Johnson’s order required federal contractors to ensure equal opportunity for minorities in recruitment, hiring, training and other employment practices.
Trump has revoked the requirement the government contractors can not have segregated facilities
Judah- you ignorant slut. You point to racist policies of DEI as being the cure for racism, yet apparently they weren’t achieving that when in place. Racism has gotten worse towards everyone as DEI has spread.
With all due respect to the author, racial differences have existed forever and will continue to be noted and perhaps rudely pointed out. The sensitivity to these differences has been exacerbated by racist lies and propaganda of DEI.
Youre expectation that the government will stop it is pathetic. PA THET IC. And your own acknowledgement of “racism”, which appears to be any acknowledgement of racial differences these days made by someone other than black people, didnt end while DEI ran rampant for the last 30 years.
Kiss my gritz. DEI sucks. There are no policies “removing protections”. Its not 1960 and the Democrats have not just voted against civil rights. It’s not the 1860’s when Democrats voted against ending slavery.
You are a weak pathetic man. Stop burning teslas and screaming about Elon Musk.
You lost. DEI lost. Racism lost. And people know the White House is not full of nazis.
**fund choice in education so we can stop failing children.
Nice turn of the phrase with the opening line. I recognized it from SNL. There is nothing about racist about the DEI, it is about teaching people that just because someone is different doesn’t mean you treat them as less of a human being. The only people who complain about DEI are white racists. Who believe that by everyone having the same rights as them, they are somehow losing rights.
As for your claims regarding Democrats voting against slavery and against the civil rights act. Please remember that those same racist Democrats became Republicans. The civil war ended 165 years ago and the civil rights movement was 70 years ago. Things have changed, but not when it comes to Republicans.
When Trump complained during his campaign that the Biden administration was being run by unelected bureaucrats. Trump done the same thing with Elon Musk. Elon Musk gave a speech at a AfD rally, they are neo Nazis. Musk did a Hitler salute twice in 30 seconds at a Trump rally.
I appreciate this question! I think its important to discuss these things in a respectful, not name calling manner. Personally, I plan on being an entrepreneur and work part time with my school, at another online job, or an in person job within my small town. I would like to believe that companies will continue to practice diversity, equity, and inclusion but I understand that there are companies who will not. I know that because of my educational journey, I have found a confidence that will allow me to deal with incidents down the road regarding sex or race discrimination. I think in the end, people will behave how they are going to behave, and I will handle it the best I can. Thank you again for the open and honest question!
I am glad to see that the cyber school created a safe environment where you can learn how to deal with individuals and companies that will use bias against future employees.
Go Girl! You have learned to love learning. Everything is within your reach. The love of learning will set you apart from others. Other people will say, “She thinks she knows it all.” But you will know…you know nothing.
Thank you! It’s been a rough ride but I have found great people and opportunities in my new environment and appreciate the journey throughout!
Thank you! I plan on taking the lessons I have learned from this journey far into life!