I’m 13 and love soccer. I’m the middle-sibling of three, and our mom works so hard to make sure all of us are doing our very best. When she’s not working, she’s making sure we’re all doing our homework or teaching me how to cook family recipes. For a while, I thought maybe I wanted to be a chef…or a pro-soccer player.
But, when I learned that Cascade Midway Academy had programs in science and police work, I got really interested in those.
At my old school, I felt a bit overwhelmed by how many kids were in each class. I need more one on one time with my teachers. It helps me feel inspired to learn. That’s when mom and I thought about looking for a different kind of high school.
When I met the people from Cascade, they told us about the cool internship opportunities students could have and the hands-on support from the teachers and staff, that really made both of us interested in learning more.
We went to their Open House, and I saw so many things that made me interested. I want to study biology, chemistry, and police work now. I think that the internships Cascade offers will really help me find my path.
To quote my mom, “The Open House opened Jama’s mind to all these possibilities for his future.” It’s true. I could see so many ways to learn at Cascade, with close help from the teachers and staff.
Everyone at Cascade was so nice. They were all very easy to talk to and kind. I like that. it makes me feel like I can trust them with guidance. They will prepare me for the next steps in school and after. I really like that we will have a counselor who will help me keep my grades up and push me in school to help get me to college. That one on one time will help me, personally, to achieve my goals.
Because class sizes at Cascade will be smaller than other high schools, I think I’ll have more opportunities to try all the things I want to. Not just internships. I’d like to get involved in student leadership. It’s really important to me to learn how to be a leader.
My mother tells me I’m a role-model for my little brother. He might want to come to Cascade too. I can help make a path for him. I’m good at math, so is my brother. If I can show him how he can use math, I hope he will also be excited to learn more, just like I am excited for high school.
At first, when we started talking about high school, I thought, “what school will I have to go to?” Now I think, “I get to go to High School at Cascade.”