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No Classroom, No Problem (Part 1)

No Classroom, No Problem (Part 1)
Posted on 03/07/2019
Katrina Wright attends to llama rescues at Peachy Farms which she runs in Elbert County. Wright is finishing her high school education with the help of Jeffco Virtual Academy.If there were ever a human equivalent of a perpetual motion machine, Katrina Wright would be it. She is always on the run at Peachy Farms in Elbert County, where she also lives.

“I love my life out here. I have a ton of animals,” she said.

She wasn’t kidding.

“We have donkeys, we have goats, sheep, alpacas, turkeys, chickens, and the rabbits,” explained Wright.

Peachy Farms is a haven created for farm animals, who, for one reason or another, have no place else to go. That includes animals whose family members have passed and other family members don’t want to take care of them, abuse situations, and a lot off the feedlot.

“We have to hay, water, clean pens; evaluate all the health care; make sure that all of our rescues that come in are still in a good position. We have to do, so all the rescues do get attention,” said Wright.

Besides her farm animal rescue work, Wright is heavily involved in the world of pro rodeo, and the world of show animals. She’s very good at it, as a room full of top awards proves. With her dog, Bullet, by her side, it’s the same room where Wright is working on completing her high school education, as a senior enrolled in Jeffco Virtual Academy or JVA.

“I want to be the first person to graduate in my family; that’s what I want. Everybody else has got their GED,” explained Wright.

Up at sunrise, Wright tries to have her farm chores done by nine in the morning so she can concentrate on her online studies, which include economics, English, and workplace experience. Her virtual education takes a lot of personal responsibility and self-direction. But she’s not alone.

At the other end of the computer, more than two dozen JVA staff help Wright, and some 1,300 other JVA students at the Academy’s home base in Lakewood, where their motto is “flexible learning for lifetime success.”

“What we like to do is work with the students on an individualized plan as to what are going to be the best courses for them to meet their goals,” explained JVA counselor Suzanne Jimenez.

“You have lots of ways to get to that diploma, to get to that whatever your next step after high school is going to be,” added JVA principal Bernard Hohman. “We can provide you with multiple angles, whether you’re full-time, part-time, and that’s what I love about our school.”

Those multiple angles are a good fit not only for JVA students like Katrina Wright but for those in the midst of some of life’s most significant challenges.

“We have some students that have bone marrow transplants going on, or chemotherapy,” said Jimenez.
More about that, as our story continues.

See the JPS-TV version of this story here or below.

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