Stevens is STAR Student of the Month

Dover-Foxcroft’s Shallynn Stevens, a ninth-grader, has been named STAR Student of the Month by Maine Connections Academy (MCA), the state’s first virtual public charter school. The STAR Student of the Month is an MCA student who has shown particular accomplishments and spirit.

This is Stevens third year at MCA, after having first been a student in both public and private schools. Once her family discovered the online learning school, she grew to enjoy the opportunity to attend school at home. “I like it, I get to work at my own pace, and that’s important to me,” she says.

A typical day for her, “I wake up, go to the town library and do my school work there.” Why the town library? “My mom babysits three kids at our house, and it can get kind of noisy.”

Stevens

Just like a student at a brick-and-mortar school, Stevens works until mid-day, then she goes home for lunch and it’s back to the library until 3 p.m. or so. “My favorite class is English, with Ms. Harvey. Mostly I like it because I get to write about my life.”

Outside of school, Stevens volunteers at the local food pantry and plays volleyball. Also, “I do photography — I take pictures of my friends for their Instagram accounts. And I hang out with my friends,” many of whom go to Foxcroft Academy.

Stevens enjoys the diversity of MCA’s curriculum, “I like it because they offer a lot of classes, and I get to pace myself. Some people think it’s like home-schooling, but it’s not: it’s more like an actual classroom, with other students and everything, but it all happens in your own home environment.”

Only in grade 9, Stevens has already accomplishing a lot. Maine Connections Academy is proud to select her as the October 2019 STAR Student of the Month.