Acceleration Academies_Spring2023_Pathways Magazine

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GWINNETT COUNTY ACCELERATION ACADEMIES Malu Montero Britto of GCAA Adapts to a New Country, Language and Way of Learning When Malu Montero Britto moved to the United States from Peru as a 5th grader, the transition was rough. In addition to adjusting to a new country and language, she had to deal with unjustified hostility from some of her peers. “I was nervous to speak up because I didn’t speak English and people would make fun of me,” she says. Classmates would taunt her, saying, ‘You’re dumb, we don’t understand you.” Her family also took some time to settle down, and she bounced from school to school, dealing with bullying at every step. Finally, in high school, she gave up on traditional school and decided to try for a GED. But that, too, was a rough road; she found that studying online was isolating, and when she needed help from a teacher, it was hard to come by. “I told myself I could do it, but it was too difficult,” she says. She lost momentum and began to despair. “I would see people graduating from Mountain View (her old school) and I would say, ‘That should have been me.’ ” She told her mother, “I’m tired of being unstable. I want to graduate — and I want to start making my own money.” With her mother’s help, Malu found her way to Gwinnett County Acceleration Academies, which works in partnership with Gwinnett County Public Schools to offer a flexible, personalized course of study for students who’ve been frustrated in traditional settings. At GCAA, Malu found a quiet, studious learning environment with zero tolerance for bullying and a team of educators who stood ready to support her in every way. Every time she would come up short on a practice test in her adopted language, for instance, English language arts content coach Morris Bevily would break down the sentences and words for her to help her better understand. “What I really like is that there are teachers here who are going to help me graduate,” she says. She appreciates that, like all public schools, GCAA provides an education free of charge. “I was like, I’m not going to lose that opportunity.” GCAA’s flexible scheduling has also proved a boon. She comes to campus to study three days a week, and is able to keep a fulltime construction job she landed working with her brother. “I can choose my days and that helps me with my job and my work for school.” Malu has an artistic eye and would like to study interior design in college. She knows that earning a diploma will position her better for success than a GED would have — and the momentum she’s regained at GCAA has built her confidence her potential. “I want to graduate because I want to have a better opportunity here in the United States,” she says. “If you want a professional job, you need a degree.” 18 Pathways | Spring 2023
BETHEL ACCELERATION ACADEMIES BAA Grad Trista White: ‘Acceleration Has Really Changed My Life For The Better’ When her baby Esme was born with her intestines outside her body, Trista White and the child’s dad lived in the hospital room for months, supporting Esme as doctors performed surgery after surgery and dealt with complication after complication. Trista showered her baby with love 24/7 but felt powerless to do much more. She decided it was time to do something she had been thinking about for a long time: get her high school career back on track. “I really just wanted to finish something, to accomplish something,” says Trista, who had dropped out. “I went to school all these years and didn’t have a diploma to show for it. I was already setting a bad example for my daughter.” Traditional high school had not worked for her. “Sitting in a regular classroom for me personally was not really a good fit. There were at least 30 kids in the same classroom, so there were a lot of other people who needed attention. I didn’t speak up as well as I should have and it was really hard to get that one-on-one time that I needed.” Trista would like to study clothing design in college and develop her own line of garments for children like Esme whose medical conditions don’t allow for normal attire. Complicating matters, she had to work full-time to earn money to support her extended family even before Esme arrived. She had a job as shift manager at an Arby’s restaurant, worked from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and had to use city buses to get around — a schedule that left no room for standard high school hours. She found her way to Bethel Acceleration Academies, where the flexible scheduling and personalized coaching enabled her to turn the corner — and to turn it so well that she recently held Esme in her arms and celebrated her graduation. “I surely would not have graduated,” says Trista, 21. “I wouldn’t have thought a lot of things through without the help of the coaches there.” Trista acknowledges that even after coming to BAA, she sometimes let her attention and studies drift. She credits Assistant Director and social studies content coach Kevin Torres with never giving up on her, reminding her again and again of her potential for success. “Coach Torres was the number one person who kept in touch with me,” she says. “That was supernice and super helpful.” And that support extended through the entire BAA team, whose members provided her and her classmates with steady attention, academic support and personal encouragement. “They helped me to stay on task and pushed me to do my work.” Happily, the medical interventions helped Esme overcome her medical challenges and leave the hospital with strong prospects for a healthy life. “She’s doing awesome,” Trista reports. “She’s just starting to walk and she started talking.” And Trista has a dream: She’d like to study clothing design in college and develop her own line of garments for children like Esme whose medical conditions don’t allow for normal attire. And that hope has a strong chance of becoming a reality thanks to the foundation she laid at Bethel Acceleration Academies. “Acceleration has really changed my life for the better.” Pathways | Spring 2023 19
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