SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine — Maine Connections Academy (MCA), Maine’s first virtual public charter school, recently selected Avery Knowles, a seventh-grader from Caribou, as their November STAR Student.
Although this is Knowles’ first year at MCA, she is already excelling academically, academy officials said. While she completes her classes and assignments virtually, Knowles also seeks out any available opportunities to interact with other students and teachers by actively participating in field trips offered by the school.
Her favorite subject is science because she likes learning about how the earth works.
Knowles is committed to achieving in the classroom, but she is also dedicated to her extracurricular gymnastics classes, and hopes to be a gymnastics coach when she gets older. When she’s not studying or working on her gymnastics skills, she enjoys playing with her pets and dreaming about going skydiving — something that she’s done indoors, but hopes to do outdoors one day.
Maine Connections Academy (MCA) is Maine’s first statewide, tuition-free, virtual public charter school for students in grades 7-12. The school is now in its second year serving students, delivering a fully-accredited education.
The academy provides students with the flexibility to learn from anywhere there is an Internet connection and with an innovative online school curriculum that meets rigorous state education standards. The combination of certified Maine-based teachers, an award-winning curriculum, engaging electives, technology tools and social experiences provides a supportive online learning opportunity for students who want an individualized approach to education.
The school’s teaching center is based at 75 John Roberts Road in South Portland. The non-profit local Governing Board of MCA is authorized by the Maine Charter School Commission. Educational programs and other services are provided by Connections Academy, a national leader in online learning that has supported schools with high-quality online learning for more than a decade.
For more information, call 1 (800) 382-6010 or visit MaineConnectionsAcademy.com.
