Student & Skateboarder - Katelyn West
California Pacific Charter School’s online K-12 program can be a great fit for many families whose students have obligations outside of a typical school schedule – and CalPac 6th grader and skateboarder Katelyn West is no exception.
“I started skating when I was ten and I started because of the pandemic. I love skateboarding because I love the feeling when you fly, all the people in the community, and how you can be free. There’s not a bunch of rules and structure to it – you can try to just do whatever you want and invent tricks and do different styles for everything” (Katelyn).
Don’t let her age fool you – Katelyn is already showing huge promise in the sport – she recently competed in a USA National Skateboarding competition and placed 10th in her division!
Her schedule is a busy one – her days are filled with lots of time spent at skateparks and training facilities putting together lines and practicing new tricks to wow judges at upcoming competitions.
Balancing Schooling with Skating
Training and travel for competition requires dedicated time, and that’s where CalPac comes in. Katelyn and her Mom, Val, found that other schools lacked the flexibility to allow Katelyn to fully pursue skateboarding while still receiving a great education.
“Other schools were super academic, but didn’t care a lot about athleticism. It’s just difficult when she’s training 8 hours a day in preparation for competitions” Val explained. They wanted that emphasis on academia, but with room for growth in areas outside of Katelyn’s education.
When they came to CalPac, they knew they had found what they were looking for. CalPac provided a rigorous yet accessible academic plan that put high priority on education while still allowing Katelyn to pursue skateboarding. Through dedicated teacher support, she is able to balance her schooling with her skate schedule and finds herself excelling at both!
When asked why she loved CalPac, Katelyn explained “It’s amazing because you can do it anywhere. It’s only a little period of the day, so you can train after your Zoom meetings and it just gives a lot more flexibility to travel. I love the teachers too!”
Katelyn West has high hopes – her goal is to compete on Team USA for skateboarding in the 2028 LA olympics. We can’t wait to see all that Katelyn achieves!
We pride ourselves on making sure all of our students are college and career ready, and a huge part of that is encouraging and empowering our working student athletes and entertainers to follow those dreams while also pursuing a stellar education. Every student is capable of greatness, and at CalPac we offer the dedicated support your child needs to reach their goals!
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This post first appeared on Online School Grades 6-12 In California | CalPac, please read the originial post: here
