His mother, Marilyn Williams, was dying. But she wanted the best future possible for her son. She wanted him to graduate.
"My mom, it was most important to her because it had to be me to take care of her. She felt guilty that she'd put me in that position,” Williams said.
Through an online high school program, Williams was able to start on the road to a diploma while his mother was living.
Participation costs vary, but usually run about $350 per course. Some parents pay for the courses, but most students can take the courses through a sponsoring school, Elliott said.
A former Edmond Santa Fe High School student, Williams, now 19, was to graduate in May but got behind in his classes. He dropped out in October 2006. Online high school allowed him to take all his classes from a home computer and work at his own pace.
Williams enrolled through the Virtual School program offered by Advanced Science and Technology Education Center Inc.
Advanced Academics was designed exactly for students like Williams, who want to finish high school but are prevented from doing so due to family problems, jobs or other personal circumstances, Elliott said.
"Our mission is to partner with public schools to help more students graduate. We don't act as a replacement, rather as an extension of the school,” Elliott said.
Most participants take a few courses online each semester, but sometimes students learn full time, online from a home, school or community computer.
Online high school isn't only for students at risk of dropping out. Some students take the courses for an extra challenge or to better prepare for college.
Advanced placement courses in higher-level math and science are popular among advanced students who don't have access to those classes at school, especially in rural areas, said Kevin Jones, curriculum and instruction director.
"This is also an ideal opportunity for homeschooled kids,” Elliott said. "It becomes increasingly difficult at the higher grade levels for students to continue with homeschooling when you get into things like physics and high-level math.”
Advanced Academics makes teachers available at all hours, every day.
For math and science, a virtual chalkboard allows teachers to illustrate math equations or other ideas.
The platform makes it similar to being in a real classroom, but without the distractions common there, secondary math teacher Doug DeCarlo said."There's a lot of remediation you can't do in the regular classroom because you have to deal with dress codes, discipline and announcements,” he said.
Williams preferred the online arrangement because of the personal attention.
"I would say that it's actually better than high school,” he said. "It's something that I take very, very, very seriously.”
Teachers and students don't usually see each other, though camera capability is there.
"We don't know what they look like, and they don't know what we look like, and I think that's a benefit,” DeCarlo said. "There aren't any preconceived notions about what a student is going to be like.”
When it comes time for standardized tests, students can take them at the school sponsoring their online classes, or sometimes at other testing locations, Elliott said.
As soon as a student completes a class, their Advanced Academics teacher recommends a grade to the sponsoring school.
Though the company can give diplomas, students have the option to graduate from the sponsoring school and receive a diploma there.
He recently finished his courses and soon will graduate from ASTEC, though he hasn't decided whether he wants to graduate formally.
He wants to pursue a computer science or broadcasting degree, something that would have been difficult if he hadn't finished high school.
"A GED (general educational development certificate) is great, but a diploma is going to get you where you need to be,” he said.
