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How do students make the transition to online learning? Is there time for extracurriculars when you’re in a rigorous program like Veritas Scholars Academy? Today we feature a snapshot of student life at Veritas through Erica Esterly, a recent VSA graduate and NCAA athlete.

Episode Transcription

Note: This transcription may vary from the words used in the original episode for better readability.

Marlin Detweiler:

Welcome again to Veritas Vox, the voice of classical Christian education. Today we have a wonderful favorite daughter of Veritas, and you'll get to hear why. Her name is Erica Esterly. Erica, welcome.

Erica Esterly:

Thank you for having me, sir. I'm really excited to be here.

Marlin Detweiler:

Well, it's great to have you here, Erica. Tell us a little bit about yourself before we get into the reasons why we thought it a good idea to have you join us.

Erica Esterly:

My name's Erica. I am now at West Point going into my last year of school. Before that, though, I was in Veritas from sixth grade until 12th grade. And throughout all of it, I've been a swimmer, and I now swim at the collegiate level.

Marlin Detweiler:

Okay. And tell us about your family and where you live.

Erica Esterly:

I'm from Scottsdale, Arizona. I have a younger brother and sister who are also both in Veritas.

Marlin Detweiler:

And your sister isn't anymore. She just graduated!

Erica Esterly:

Yeah, true! She's moved on now. She's going to Drexel this fall. But we both have done Veritas since we moved to Arizona.

Marlin Detweiler:

That’s great. You used to spend time, I think, the summers in the Philadelphia area where you lived originally, probably the area that you were born. Is that true?

Erica Esterly:

Yep. So we're back in the summertime.

Marlin Detweiler:

And I was always fascinated to watch your cross-country treks from Arizona, Pennsylvania and Arizona, because your parents made them more than just a long drive. Tell us a little bit about what they did there.

Erica Esterly:

Yeah. So when we were younger and it was we were smaller and we could all fit into a car. My family and I did these road trips from Scottsdale all the way back to Philadelphia, and my mom would call them “Esterly’s eat their way across America”. And so we would take a different route each time.

Usually, my dad would plan it and we just stop- we either go through the South or the Midwest or maybe up north and just hit a bunch of different restaurants, national parks, battlefields, that kind of thing.

Marlin Detweiler:

This might be putting you on the spot a little bit, but what was one of the most memorable restaurants that you ate at that you would tell the listeners, don't miss this restaurant if you get a chance.

Erica Esterly:

I can't remember the exact name because I was much younger, but it was a barbecue place in Austin. And so if I get my note, my dad has a note somewhere.

Marlin Detweiler:

BBQ place in Austin, you got about 500. Yeah, that would help that.

Erica Esterly:

Great. But we did a barbecue route kind of thing. And those were good restaurants.

Marlin Detweiler:

Oh, that's really cool. It has always been fun interacting with your family. I would describe the Esterly family as one of those diehard families that think our folks at Veritas hung the moon. But the fact of the matter is, it is people like you and your family that have made other people feel like Veritas is a special place. And so there's kind of a mutual admiration society that we have established there. So it's fun to recognize it, though. Do you remember how your family first became familiar with Veritas?

Erica Esterly:

Yeah, I think we so we had just moved out to Arizona and we kind of moved it like an awkward time. It was like October, November, December time of the year. And we were considering schooling options and the brick-and-mortar options that we had looked at. Some of them were good but they weren't exactly what my parents were looking for.

And I remember my mom was just doing a lot of research on what would be a good, rigorous education, but classically Christian-minded, if possible, and something that would allow us to do it no matter where we are in the country. And she came across Veritas and from there the rest is history.

Marlin Detweiler:

Yeah, well, it was it's funny that you lived in Philadelphia, and our office is down the road, only 70 miles. You had to go to Arizona to find us. Think about that. We got a little marketing challenge, I guess. Interesting. So you started taking online classes and using Veritas when you were, did you say sixth grade or seventh grade?

Erica Esterly:
6th grade.

Marlin Detweiler:

Okay. So tell us about your experience at Veritas, the meaningful points. I don't want to make anyone make you answer a question that takes you 10 minutes to answer. Tell us about the start. What was it like to move to taking classes online and to actually have school show up at home rather than you have to go to it?

Erica Esterly:

Right. That was definitely a bit of a transition for me since I had done brick-and-mortar schooling for my elementary school. But we kind of got into a system pretty quickly. My siblings are both younger than me, and so we adjusted to being in a different place. We were using Veritas materials. We weren't in online classes yet.

Marlin Detweiler:

Your first year was not online classes?

Erica Esterly:

No.

Marlin Detweiler:

Okay. Glad you clarified that.

Erica Esterly:

So my first year, maybe my first two years were mostly traditional. My mom was using the books. We were trying out the Omnibus book lists and doing traditional homeschooling.

Marlin Detweiler:

Now when you say “traditional homeschooling” as in, mom teaches it, which is the simple definition of what I would call traditional homeschooling.

Erica Esterly:

Traditional homeschool. Yes. And so we were doing that and we– my mom was really enjoying it. It was giving us a lot of flexibility to look at swim and all the different extracurriculars that my family was doing at the time. And then as I got older, it kind of transitioned more into online schooling. And then by eighth or ninth grade, I was doing fully online classes.

Marlin Detweiler:

In fact, I think I don't remember if it was more than one grade, but I know you were the student body president.

Erica Esterly:

Yes, I was.

Marlin Detweiler:

Ninth grade and maybe more than that. Is that right?

Erica Esterly:

Yes, sir. It was in the eighth and ninth grades, I think if I remember correctly.

Marlin Detweiler:

Yeah, I remember. We give students the opportunity to do their own campaigns, so to speak. And it's kind of fun. And your videos had a lot invested in the whole production team. You didn't have to go to Hollywood to do that, did you? No.

Erica Esterly:

No. I just had my mom here, and she did this.

Marlin Detweiler:

Yeah. So what was your educational experience prior to sixth grade? Presumably, I guess, in Philadelphia?

Erica Esterly:

I was enrolled in Delaware County Christian School, so we and my sister as well did a couple of years there, but my brother pretty much began with Veritas and will end with Veritas. So I enjoyed my elementary school education. It was a Christian school. So it was not as rigorous as Veritas ended up being. But it gave me a great groundwork of a Christian environment. It was definitely a transition going from a brick-and-mortar school to homeschooling, but it was a transition for my whole family. But we made it work.

Marlin Detweiler:

Tell us a little bit about, you know, open up the front door and let us look inside the house. Tell us what that looked like in some meaningful ways.

Erica Esterly:

It was a little chaotic at first. You know, we were moving like 3000 miles. So we had the books everywhere, the boxes everywhere. It was as chaotic as you can imagine. It was not like the organized books of Veritas, like curriculum, yet.

Marlin Detweiler:

Like what's over your shoulders now? Right.

Erica Esterly:

We’ve been buying this over the years. Yeah, but it was definitely a little bit chaotic. We were just adjusting to a new environment, new friends. And then on top of that, my mom was trying to get the hang of doing school and single-handedly kind of teaching the three of us. And so it was a little bit chaotic at first.

But I think I stepped quickly into like the role of the oldest child and helped my siblings practice their grammar jingles and do the other little cards and everything with them. So I think we quickly got a flow down that worked for us.

Marlin Detweiler:

Yeah. Your parents both have I know this firsthand for having talked to them over the years. Both valued an academically-rigorous education as well as their distinctively Christian education. And I think that was a great appeal to them. I know that was a great appeal to them.

Erica Esterly:

Yeah.

Marlin Detweiler:

How did you find that in terms of workload and benefit from the hard work that it required?

Erica Esterly:

I had to adjust to it at first. You have to be disciplined to do homeschooling. It does require a certain amount of self-discipline, which if you don't have I think that I had already had that instilled just from my years of doing swimming at a really high level. And so I was at a pretty young age, and I already was having good time management skills because I would swim in the morning, go back to my school, do my homework classes, go back and swim again, come back, and do more school.

And so for me, like, it, it really instilled like, I think that's what my parents wanted as well was something that would help us start ingraining discipline and enjoying as well what we're doing. And so to me, the most fruitful part of Veritas as I got older, I got really engaged with the material, moving through the Omnibus levels or going through the rhetoric classes. I have really fond memories of becoming so engaged in the material that it became easy for me to manage even when I had a very busy and high-paced schedule, I was really invested in what I was learning.

Marlin Detweiler:

That's really neat. How how did it affect– What are some of the most significant things that you learned that changed you as a person as part of six years of online classes?

Erica Esterly:

I would say there's a lot you read just from the reading, from doing the class discussions. I think I learned a lot from interacting with the other students as well. And so what I found was really interesting is we could come together as a body of fellow-minded Christian students and still have disagreements and approach it very respectfully and intellectually.

And so I think back to my rhetoric or Omnibus discussions where the question would be posed to engage us in discussion and people would approach it from different points of view, but it never became disrespectful or it was always, all the discussions I can remember, even from a young age, were we were being respectful and we were learning.

It was intellectually stimulating. And so for me, that was the cool thing I think I learned was: one was being able to see people who had similar backgrounds to me or they were also learning and being able to talk to other Veritas kids who are also athletes or something, but also being able to interact with people who had very different backgrounds from me. So that was one thing I think I learned.

The other thing I definitely learned is I would say like the importance of the material we were learning not just from an academic side, but like biblically, how it kind of stimulated my faith journey as well and helps me go in a specific direction that then later on helped me in college when I was struggling a little bit to find some sort of grounding in my faith, I was relying on a lot of what I had learned at Veritas, and I think that's kind of neat.

Marlin Detweiler:

How would you describe the impact of being able to be in a class with like-minded people, but people from very different cultures? I'm aware many people are of the culture of the Northeast. Philadelphia is not really from the East, but it's that northern culture but then you’ve got the culture of Scottsdale, a very different culture than Philadelphia that's sometimes a seasonal culture as it was for you all for a time. But also the international kids, especially them. How did that impact the quality and the experience?

Erica Esterly:

I think it definitely added an extra layer of very interesting complexity to classes because you'd be logging on and like, I'd be coming straight from swim practice. I might be starting the first couple of minutes of class in the car and then there'd be someone maybe in Hawaii and they're waking up even earlier than me.

But they're talking about how they're on the beach during their class. And then there'd be someone coming in from Singapore. And for them, it's like 11 p.m. here. And it was just a really unique experience because I got to see a little bit into the lives of people who lived very different lives. And so I think in every class that I had, there was always a couple of people that were either Super North or they were on a different continent. It was really cool because we all had the same intentions of coming into class or going through our studies.

But to be able to interact with people who lived such different lives or, had such different backgrounds, I think that it helped me open up my mind about how when you're interacting with different people, the best thing you can do is just listen and learn. And so I found that to be a really cool part of my Veritas education, for sure.

Marlin Detweiler:

My educational experience, especially in high school and even into college, was somewhat of a necessary evil. That's what you do because you're 18 years old or 15 years old. That's what you do. You go to college, that's what you do because you have an end in mind. And I was not motivated. I did not enjoy the educational process.

It made it possible for me to be involved in extracurriculars. For me, that was sports in particular a couple in high school and then just golf and college. And so it was just part of doing things. But my sense is at Veritas that most students have a very different attitude. How would you describe the typical Veritas student in terms of their attitude toward education and towards their class?

Erica Esterly:

Absolutely. I think you can tell just from my experience being in classes, that people have a lot of different motivations or interests. And maybe one person is interested in medieval history, another person's interested in, I don't know, 18th-century history. But what was cool is that everyone had some vested interest, whether it be in theology, history, or the literature that was being taught beyond just, “I have to do this class because I need credits for college”, or whatever it might be.

And I think you could really see that come out in class discussions because everyone would be engaged, everyone would be participating, and everyone had new information that they could add to the discussion because the way that the class material is set up is that it like was genuinely interesting to people. And so it wasn't just like another check-the-box kind of class. Like, oh, “time for so-and-so to share their interest in whatever it is.”

And so I don't know. I think that helps us all learn better because it wasn't the teachers weren't pulling teeth to get us to participate.

Marlin Detweiler:

I got to tell you, it is what gets me up in the morning. And that's to hear students talk about loving going to school and loving what they're learning. Yeah, that keeps me going. And again, I'm so sorry for being so self-indulgent there, but thanks for confirming.

Erica Esterly:

Of course!

Marlin Detweiler:

Now, you have been very involved in extracurriculars. I know that you have been a swimmer at a championship level. Are you still swimming at West Point?

Erica Esterly:

Mm hmm.

Marlin Detweiler:

To swimming in college. And I swam in high school while taking online classes. I think this is a very significant thing for many people who say, how do we do some of these other things that my kids want to do? What made that work? How did that come about? That made it so that it just it wasn't an issue. You got to do what you wanted to do. Your parents were able to make it work without too much difficulty. I shouldn't assume that. Tell us about that experience of bringing your own extracurricular activity to bear where Veritas couldn't.

Erica Esterly:

Right. My schedule in high school was very busy. We were doing piano competitively. We were swimming at a really high level. And then on top of that, obviously doing Veritas classes and I was in highest honors.

Marlin Detweiler:

Highest Honors. That is a level of Diploma that students are invited into beyond an honors program that we have, also.

Erica Esterly:

So they were difficult classes. But what I found was that, well, to start as we had just talked about Veritas, the class material was not to me, it was not a bore. Some of it maybe, I'm not a math person. So like when I was in calculus I was maybe dragging my feet a little bit.

But for the most part, I was excited to do my work. I would love every time we had an Omnibus assignment. Like, I was excited to do it. So it helped one, that I was engaged and I was interested in the material. And then I kind of, as I progressed and my schedule got busier, I just got better at time management.

My parents helped me, but I was motivated intrinsically to accomplish my goals in swimming and to accomplish my goals with school and piano and all those things simultaneously. And so I think that was instilled in me and I had that innate desire to succeed in a couple of different routes.

And so that's what helped me and as well as my parents obviously encouraging me to succeed. But it definitely took a lot of motivation from myself to wake up early for those practices and then go to class and do a lot.

Marlin Detweiler:

What would do you know about how your parents found the opportunities? What would be advice that you could provide for other people? So I love the idea of Veritas. I love the idea that I'm classes, but how do I find the things that my kids may want to do? Maybe that's a foolish question because the Internet's an obvious place. Everybody has neighbors that are playing travel team soccer and that sort of thing. But just give some thoughts that you have on that.

Erica Esterly:

My parents when we were younger, we tried a bunch of different sports. So at one point, I was doing gymnastics and soccer and swimming and tennis and I think for me that was the best way to experiment. I think that a sport is really helpful for the development of youth and I think it actually made me do better in school because it forced me to be hard working and manage my time and do all these things.

And so I would recommend to parents, have your kids try a couple of different sports and see which one they have a natural leaning to. And for me, that was swimming. And then my siblings followed in my footsteps. But it's the great thing about Veritas again is that you can do it anywhere.

I would take my books to practice. And if I had a couple of minutes waiting for my siblings, was doing homework there, and take it to travel meets. We would pack our books and go to Portland for our swim meets. And so the great thing is that Veritas gives you the accessibility to try different things with your kids. And that's what worked for our family.

Marlin Detweiler:

When when you're competing at a regional or national level and travel is a part of that. It really is a wonderful thing with the Internet and online classes to just plug in. It doesn't matter where you are, right? You can do it in the car with Internet there. Be part of a class as if you're sitting in front of a computer in your home.

You mentioned swimming several times. That was a really big thing for you in high school and now in college. Being a big thing for you or having won a state championship or something like that is not capturing what you've really accomplished there. And I want to feature that because I'm really, I'm proud of what you've accomplished.

I think you've done two swims that many people don't even know about. But when they do, if they're like me, their first response is, “How do you do this?” One of them is called the 40 Bridges Swim. Tell us what that is.

Erica Esterly:

So 40 Bridges is a double circumnavigation of New York City. So in 2021, I completed 20 Bridges, which is one loop, and you swim under all 20 bridges in New York City. It's 28 miles. And then this past year, in 2022, I did the double loop of New York City.

Marlin Detweiler:

So that is 56 miles under 20 bridges, twice without stopping.

Erica Esterly:

Yes, sir.

Marlin Detweiler:

Now, I know the answer to this, but I'm going to ask you so that you can answer it. How long did that take?

Erica Esterly:

So it took me 19 hours and 49 minutes to be exact.

Marlin Detweiler:

For some reason, I had in my head it was 22 hours and you probably know this, but maybe not. When did you finish? What hour did you finish hour? The clock.

Erica Esterly:

Finished about 6 a.m.

Marlin Detweiler:

I believe the first text I got from your parents was around 2 a.m. indicating where you stood in that process and that you were at that point having a very difficult time and going through that. Now, I don't know what you punched through. That doesn't seem to give it adequate explanation. I can't imagine. I've often described myself as a sinker, not a swimmer, but I'm happy to swim across a pool. But swimming 56 miles is astounding. There have been how many people, how many men and how many women have ever completed that?

Erica Esterly:

So I believe the number is now 15 people who have completed it in total.

Marlin Detweiler:

15 people in the history of the world?

Erica Esterly:

Mm hmm. And I'm not sure exactly how many women finished. I was the youngest by 15 years.

Marlin Detweiler:

How many women would you guess have completed it? For some reason I was thinking it was five or six.

Erica Esterly:

I think it's somewhere around there.

Marlin Detweiler:

Yeah. Okay. So you did that. When did you do that?

Erica Esterly:

So I completed that swim in August of 2022.

Marlin Detweiler:

August of 2022. At least you picked a month when the weather was warm. And then you went on to do what's called the Catalina Channel. How much time was there from the 40 Bridges to the Catalina Channel?

Erica Esterly:

There were about three weeks in between those swims.

Marlin Detweiler:

So what is the Catalina Channel swim?

Erica Esterly:

The Catalina Channel is one of three major open water swims, called the Triple Crown of open water swimming. 20 Bridges is one of them.

Marlin Detweiler:

But 20 Bridges is the other one, not the double loop, the 40 Bridges. So. Right. Okay. All right. Go ahead. I'm sorry.

Erica Esterly:

And then Catalina Channel is a two-channel crossing in California. So you swim from Santa Catalina Island back to Los Angeles. And it's about, uh, depends on I mean, it's ocean, but it usually is around 23 miles.

Marlin Detweiler:

Okay, you say “usually”, you mean because of the direction that the tide is moving?

Erica Esterly:

Yeah, it can be. If you get a little bit off course, it can add a little bit.

Marlin Detweiler:

Oh, I see. So there's a third one then. If it's a Triple Crown, what's the third race?

Erica Esterly:

The third one is the English Channel.

Marlin Detweiler:

And when are you planning to do that? I know you must be.

Erica Esterly:

Yeah. July 2024.

Marlin Detweiler:

July next year.

Erica Esterly:

Yes, sir.

Marlin Detweiler:

Is that one rated in difficulty compared to the other two?

Erica Esterly:

Much more. Much more difficult.

Marlin Detweiler:

Much more difficult than both of the other two?

Erica Esterly:

Yeah.

Marlin Detweiler:

Really? Why is that?

Erica Esterly:

That one has a whole set of challenges in and of itself because the water is much colder. The waters in England are pretty cold no matter what time of year.

Marlin Detweiler:

Yeah.

Erica Esterly:

In addition to sea lice. Sorry, sea life, usually you come out of it with a couple of jellyfish stings and hopefully that's the extent of it. But the channel is very… So you swim it in a serpentine motion because of how aggressive the tides are. So the issue is you don't really know how long exactly it's going to take you.

So there's a little bit more uncertainty with that swim. But it's also viewed as the pinnacle of open-water swimming. Like when you think of open water swimming, most people think English Channel.

Marlin Detweiler:

It's hard for me to imagine anything being more difficult than 20 hours of swimming for 56 miles going under the bridge is probably not that big a deal. That's just that's a clever way to name it. Swimming around Manhattan Island twice. Astounding.

Erica Esterly:

Thank you, sir.

Marlin Detweiler:

Erica, thank you for joining us today. It has been so wonderful to hear about your story, your experience with Veritas and where you've been going from there. Thank you.

Erica Esterly:

Absolutely. Thank you for having me, sir.

Marlin Detweiler:

Folks, this is Veritas Vox. Thank you for joining us. Veritas Vox, of course, The voice of classical Christian education. Bye bye.