"My day in the life is pretty atypical, to be quite honest with you. It's definitely not like the brick and mortar school where kids wake up there, go on the bus, they go to school and they're kind of stuck at school the whole day. For me, I feel like I can go to school, I can go to classes live, I can do my high school work and then do some of my college dual enrollment work later on. Whenever I can go outside, I can be running or rollerblading. If I get all my work done, I can go hiking or kayaking. It's a whole mix."

-Natalia, 12th Grade

"GCA is really amazing about monthly events and community days. I absolutely love the opportunities that they're giving to a lot of students, just the diverse range of things you can do. I've been to the Tennessee Aquarium, Chattanooga Zoo. I did a whole summer camp at Jekyll Island. You can just explore so many interests and then meet up with other students. It's a great way to kind of connect with others rather than being like, confined to your house and seeing all the other students out there and having fun.

I've done a lot of different competitions. It's been amazing; has offered so many a lot more than normal public schools if I'm being quite honest. I've participated in the Rube Goldberg machine contest where you're trying to get like a ball or some kind of object down and knocking everything over until like the final 'wow' kind of event. A lot of physics involved. It was great. I've also done the science fair. And there's a lot of flexibility with that. choose your topic, people are there for you to help you, support you. I have done the geography bee, the spelling bee. There's GCA's Got Talent, the Peace Poetry Prize competition. There's just so many different events that GCA and competitions and contests that you can participate in. It's amazing. I love it.

GCA provides a lot of things for that culture building. Just seeing the podcast and what the students are doing is really inspirational to see the new projects they're working on or they're starting their own little business. So to be able to kind of connect with students that are in different grade bands and seeing what they're doing in their lives kind of outside of school is really interesting. GCA also has lots of social media. They're on Facebook and Instagram and I love seeing what they're posting on Instagram. For spring break, they're asking people like, what did you do? So it was seeing people. These people went to the beach. These people are checking out like the Everglades. Just seeing what students are doing or if it's just community events, you're seeing them getting posted as well as just different things they're working on or if they've won GCA's Got Talent. That was something that was happening as well, getting to vote for them, just seeing everybody and knowing that they're students is really amazing."

-Natalia, 12th Grade

"In terms of flexibility, I feel like the teachers give you more time to kind of work on your own because they have those lesson plans. There's lots of breakout rooms. Normally, you're able to work on past assignments, work on the current assignments or extra work and extra credit and that kind of stuff. I feel like it's a lot more flexible than previous grade bands just because you're older as well. So you have that flexibility to kind of do what you will as long as you're getting the stuff done.

You can do your work from anywhere and do it in any capacity, in whatever you want to do within that time. The bell schedule... I really appreciate it because you do have that structure and different teachers. You have your homeroom, then you have like your first period is like math and then second period is English. That structure is a really nice way to just have that flexibility to do your work, but as well as have that structure to be able to see those same teachers and do that same work every single day."

-Natalia, 12th Grade

"I feel incredibly supported. Just the counseling department alone. My counselor, she's truly one of the best humans I think I've ever met. She's always, like, helping me with anything. Scholarship recommendations... helping me make sure I'm staying on track. Different courses, helping me sign up for some dual enrollment courses. She's truly one of the best parts about GCA. The whole counseling department is absolutely incredible, helping make sure I'm graduating and I'm on the right path and everything. And then as well as GCA has a ton of extra academic things like tutoring. It's great for whenever I need help with homework, just looking over essays. So I feel incredibly supported. It's wonderful."

-Natalia, 12th Grade

"Absolutely join GCA. It's an amazing experience because you have that support system. The people are there for you. The teachers are wonderful. It's similar to a brick and mortar school. But if you have that flexibility in those kinds of levels, you're able to do your work and then kind of move on so you can do your work. Go ahead. Work on hobbies, invest in free time. I would definitely say yes, join GCA. The flexibility is incredible and I think it is definitely better than regular brick and mortar schools."

-Natalia, 12th Grade

"I was looking for her to have a more diverse curriculum and a more rigorous curriculum. So we chose to go virtual for Natalia because I wanted her to have access to more rigorous classes. I felt like in the typical brick and mortar school, a lot of the time was being wasted on behavioral students. And because she was already beyond meeting standards, she was kind of being pushed to the side. I didn't feel like that was right. I wanted my child to be focused on her job, which was becoming a stronger and more academic student. And so going virtual was great for us because she was able to test into where she was academically achieving, and then we were able to like, push those strengths and push her in the direction to where she needed to go."

-Christine, Natalia's Mom

"I think that the there are so many benefits to attending a virtual school. I think that the most important one is that I really know my children and I know what they're achieving academically. But more importantly, I know them as humans because I'm spending so much time with them. I feel like we have such a great relationship and our bonds are super strong. And we as a family get to participate in so many things together. Like every night we have homemade meals, like from scratch, homemade salad dressings, homemade bread, homemade desserts. And my kids have been learning these life skills that I feel are so important to being a well-rounded human. Beyond academically, because we spend so much time together, we spend a lot of quality time together and we get to enjoy just being together outside. And truly, because of GCA, I feel like we have a relationship that other parents don't have with their kids, and I really know them."

-Christine, Natalia's Mom

"Going virtually helped because she was able to focus on her. She was able to spend more time doing the things that she enjoyed, like reading, for example. And she was a voracious reader, so she spent tons of time doing extra book reports; extra assignments; whatever GCA gave her. And she, because of that, succeeded.

She's been fully supported to be able to work at her own individual pace. And I love that."

-Christine, Natalia's Mom

"I would have to say it just depends on who your student is and and what age your student is. I became more hands off of a parent and my kids became more independent learners with GCA. I would have to say, you know, GCA looks like a typical school. It's just a classroom of one in a room and the rest are virtual. And my children were participating the entire time with their classmates whenever they attend class and they were participating with their teachers. It's like regular school, but at our house. And it's been perfect for us. Perfect. You get what you put in, you know, if you want to have your child, in every single class and interacting, you can have that. And if you want your child to have more flexibility and they're academically capable of that, then you have that possibility. So I feel like it gives you it gives you the best of whatever you are expecting and what you what you're hoping to achieve. And you just got to I think you as a parent need to identify like what your goals are for your family and for your children, and then you just work towards them and GCA provides that support for you to achieve any goals you set out."

-Christine, Natalia's Mom

"I am very happy with the amount of support we have at GCA, although my husband and I both have doctorates in education, I have never thought that I would be an adequate teacher for my own children because I'm not good at everything. I'm good at what I'm qualified in. And so what I've loved about GCA is that they have other people that they are responsible and I'm just there to support. And as far as the staff interactions, I love that my Family Liaison calls me regularly to ask how we're doing and how she can help. I love that they set up goals every semester for my children, and I love that they call to ask how my kids are doing. I love that there are quarterly assessments because I, as a parent, want to know what I need to do to focus and how to help my children. Not all parents love those quarterly assessments, but I love them because it helps me identify areas that I need to provide additional support or help my child with tutoring or help them grow as humans. GCA provides a lot of that. And even if you don't know it as a parent, the staff is there to walk you through every step of it. And I feel like that's incredibly helpful."

-Christine, Natalia's Mom

"I feel like one of the best parts about GCA is that my child has been able to be unapologetically herself. I love that there has been no drama. She is just so empowered in her own skin. And it hasn't always been easy because sometimes people are very 'judgy', like, 'Oh, you do online school', or they think you're naturally anti-social or weird. But she is going out into the universe in a couple of months [after graduation] and she just knows herself. There's never been any inhibition being worried about what people or girls or boys or her peers are saying about her. And I feel like that's been the best thing for me as a parent is to let her let her like what she likes, let her do what she likes and just be herself, and be fearless in her own skin. It's been the best part beyond academics. And because she was able to do all of these and just be her, she's been able to bloom and be amazing and grow into herself and discover her strengths and her passions and her loves and never be inhibited by other people telling her what she should or should or could not be. That's why I would say enroll, just because you can be whatever you want to be and the only limit is the limits you put on yourself."

-Christine, Natalia's Mom