The Rogers family has had many ups and downs - from a cancer diagnosis to running a business, traveling, and a major car accident.

In this video, they tell their story of why they quit their local school and how live online classes through Veritas Scholars Academy played a key role for their daughter during a pivotal season in their lives.

In this interview, they answer questions such as:

- Why did you choose Veritas?
- How was the transition into Veritas?
- What was your biggest challenge coming into Veritas?
- How did you like your Academic Advisor?
- How did classical education prepare your daughter to pursue an engineering degree?

Mentioned in this video:

Free consultation: https://try.veritaspress.com/consult/

The Accredited Diploma Program: https://diploma.veritaspress.com/

What is Omnibus? https://veritaspress.com/blog/what-exactly-is-omnibus

Academic Advisor Susan Gimotty: https://veritaspress.com/team-member/susan-gimotty

Video Transcript:

Alison:
I'm Alison Rogers. I just graduated as a senior, and I just walked.

Langston:
I'm Langston Rogers

Stephanie:
I'm Stephanie Rogers. We're from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and Allie has been at Veritas now for four years.

Why did you choose Veritas?

Alison:
It was actually me!

Stephanie:
We were coming out of Covid, and Allie went back to brick and mortar school and came home and she's like, “Mom, this is not for me.” And we were like, well, I don't have time to homeschool you. And it's a full-time job. And so that Thanksgiving, she spent her whole Thanksgiving break. She did research, made a PowerPoint. She made a PowerPoint presentation because we were not real keen on pulling her out of school. And, it was pretty obvious pretty quickly what was the right fit for our family.

We wanted her to have live classes. We wanted her to have live teachers. We wanted her to have live students, something she can interact with.

Alison:
And also, I needed the accountability of a teacher and actual submissions for homework, and also something that was structured.

Stephanie:
Yeah, something that was structured. We kept her active in local things. So she still did archery.

Alison:
And I actually got more active with my church and with friends, because I wasn't burnt out as badly after school, because I relearned after I get really burnt out in an in-person school.

How was the transition into Veritas?

Stephanie:
In the very beginning, it was challenging getting to transition from a private Christian brick and mortar school to the Veritas, just structure. We went full Diploma from the beginning. We wanted to make sure she graduated with a diploma, and one that could be very marketable for her, as she was looking at colleges.

Langston:
And for me, it was 1- what she was taught, 2- what she wasn't taught, and 3- as business owners in multiple cities. Her school was transportable, so she could travel with us.

Alison:
Which became very, very helpful this past year with my mom because she was diagnosed with cancer in the middle of junior year.

Stephanie:
Yeah, I was diagnosed with cancer a little over a year ago. And so it gave us the flexibility that with treatment with whatever was going on, we could be wherever, whenever, and Ali could hop on. So, you know, God prepared those paths for us ahead of time for sure.

What was your biggest challenge coming into Veritas?

Alison:
Probably just like trying to get used to everything was online. It was a lot of technology. So we'd use Microsoft Teams at my old school for Covid. So Adobe and Microsoft Teams are two totally different beasts, but after I learned it, it was a lot simpler to use.

Stephanie:
I think probably your biggest learning curve the first year was getting used to the technology, definitely. And then the curriculum, you know, it's definitely a much more rigorous curriculum. I don't know any other way of saying this, but that when she started, he and I looked at each other and we're like, “Wow, this is a really challenging curriculum. It it feels more like what we did in college,” but coming out of Covid and the world going wild and us going through something we never expected, we were looking at, there's a true possibility she won't be able to go to college. We don't know what's going to happen in this world that we live in. But with the education she receives through Veritas and the rigor and just the way she's taught to think for herself and to really analyze everything she's being told as to the truth and what's just propaganda, you know, just really learning the rigors of study and breaking things down. She's so much further ahead of people who've been through an entire college curriculum. And so we felt really good about that.

Langston:
The way it's structured is more college-based than high school-based. So she, in my opinion, has a jump start when she goes to college.

How did you like your Academic Advisor?

Alison:
I love Mrs. Susan Gimmoty. She's been amazing and a humongous help, especially with these last couple of years.

Stephanie:
Yeah, definitely. So our academic advisor was someone that we could go to. She did life with us, if that makes sense. She knew our situation. She knew that I was running a business, and I could just spot-check Ali. And so that if anything was going on that I just missed, I would get a text or an email and say, “Hey, let me make sure you're aware of this.” And when we had struggles, she was great for helping us find someone to tutor Ali and to mentor Ali, and just help her move along. And then also when we ran into anything where we might not fit the box, we were given very reasonable accommodations. And so that was a big help.

And then, as Alison mentioned earlier, with me going through her cancer journey, the teachers as a whole were very accommodating. So if Ali said, “Hey, I'm going to be out of pocket because this is going on with mom.” They were very supportive, knowing that her teachers were praying for her, and praying for us was huge.

Another situation that happened along those lines is, Ali was in a really bad car wreck this past year as she totaled a car, and she fortunately walked away, but at the same time, she was out of class and we were on a trip, and she had missed, a couple of classes. And one of the sweetest things was that she was watching the archives so that she could catch up. And one of our teachers brought up the fact that she wasn't in class and, with her permission, had explained why and prayed for her. Where do you get that? I mean, really, where else do you get where the teachers know what's going on in your lives and are praying for you and supporting you? Is that's been a beautiful experience

Alison:
With the wreck, my computer was dead, so I had shot a message and I'm like, “I currently have no access to most of my material until I can get to an IT guy. Can I have like a couple days?” I was able to get everything submitted, and they were really, really understanding.

How did classical education prepare you for engineering?

Alison:
I'm going to Louisiana Tech University for Industrial Engineering with a minor in business. My high school education prepared me for engineering and business, probably through just teaching us perseverance and teaching us like how to think for yourself, how to reason for yourself. Because you need that in engineering, because it's very much problem-solving. You're doing a ton of how can I fix this in a way that's the most effective, or maybe the easiest or simplest solution, or it might not be the simplest solution, but it might be the one that's going to last the longest.

But classical makes you actually be willing to do the harder stuff, where you're more willing to put in more of the work because you know, the rewards you're going to reap are going to be much greater. Kind of like with Omni[bus], it's a ton of work, but the reward to reap, you reap at the end of the year are very, very, very great.

Stephanie:
Classical education. Yes. It's it's giving you the philosophy and it's it's giving you, you know, the rhetoric and all that foundation and going into the sciences, you've got to be able to write a paper and you've got to be able to call information and put your ideas together in a format that is clear and persce and, I really feel like Ali’s gotten that.

I know the first time I read one of her papers for Omni and I thought, did you write this? Did you really write this? I was so impressed. One of my proudest comments that a teacher did on her comment form was, they said, “Your intro gave me very high expectations and you exceeded them. Veritas teachers, their expectations are high and the kids definitely rise to the challenge.

Langston:
And one of the unusual things is Omnibus, which doesn't just teach you the knowledge of literature or the Christian history of government or whatever influenced it at that time. They build on each other and reinforce that you're not just learning a knowledge base. And also Ali came with a kind of weak science background. And she was able to catch up on her science and math, but I say the quality of instruction has been good overall!