By Margaret Anderson
margaret@newsroom.byu.edu
An alternative high school in Orem is allowing students to work at their own pace toward their high school diplomas.
The Alpine Life and Learning Center is open 12 hours a day Monday through Thursday and for 9 hours on Fridays. Students can check in and check out as they please, but daily attendance is required.
'The traditional style is not for everyone,' said LaMar Smith a teacher from Orem High School.
Justin P. Keetch, the assistant director of the ALLC, said that the school caters to many different types of students who can't make it at a traditional high school.
'We try to adjust to their needs as they come through the door,' said Keetch.
The school's flexible method of instruction makes graduating from high school possible for those who have children, those who have to work, or for those who simply need to study at their own pace Keetch said.
'The traditional classroom focuses on the AP or A student and the C or D student gets lost in the woodwork,' said Smith.
The ALLC believes in what Keetch calls 'asynchronous learning'--a system that allows students to work at their own speed.
'The student drives the system. We serve them. We work around their needs,' said Keetch.
The students are assigned packets that correspond to a subject such as math or chemistry, and they are given a deadline to complete it.
They then can attend the various labs provided by the school at their convenience where they can receive one on one instruction from a certified high school teacher.
'As teachers, we are less of the person standing in front delivering education and more of somebody to provide assistance,' said Blaine Greenhalgh, a physical sciences teacher at ACCL.
Some feel that this new approach to teaching is more effective, but others still feel that the traditional classroom is more beneficial.
'I would say the traditional setting is probably the better education, but I think this is a good alternative,' Smith said.
According to Brian Hartshorn, a full time student at ACCL, students can take it slower or they can speed up their education using this method.
'I can even work ahead where other schools pretty much keep me behind,' said Hartshorn who went to home school until he decided to attend ACCL.
If students graduate a year early, they may apply for a centennial scholarship. This allows a portion of the money the state would have spent to finish the students' education to be used toward a scholarship.
According to Greenhalgh, the key to success for this type of learning environment is that every student who attends ACCL attends by choice.
'Regardless of the reason, there is an element of student choice,' Greenhalgh said.
For every student the reason for choosing ACCL may be different.
'The school I was going to was very cliquey and I didn't like it. I came here so that I could be at my own pace, do my own thing and be left alone,' said Crystal Durham, a sophomore at ACCL.
Durham said that she felt she was getting a better education at ACCL because she has had to learn to be self-motivated.
Greenhalgh said that they regularly have to throw students out on Fridays at 5 p.m. in order to lock up because the students are so eager to learn.
'There aren't too many high schools that have to do that,' Greenhalgh said.