By: Shayla Terry

This year, the Crenshaw County School System debuted its virtual school at full swing, and four students at Luverne High School are taking full advantage of it.

Mackenzie Carlos, Brianna Jones, Paige McGough and TJ Peagler are juniors at LHS enrolled in Advanced Placement History. Students that complete the course may go on to test for college credit and have it applied to their future degree paths.

Students take history classes year round during the school’s Tiger Block.

“It’s a hybrid in-class and online course,” Course Instructor Avington Medeiros said. “It allows students to take a more rigorous version of American History.”

Mederios says that her students have persevered through the course; despite it’s known difficulties.

“These students go above,” she said. “AP, by nature, is more difficult because you’re preparing to take the exam to receive college credit. These students are going the extra mile every single week.”

Students have an hour of work per night for the course, and their textbook is written on the college level. Along with an attempt at college credit, students are also satisfying their history credit through the program. The coursework is mostly online.

“There was a big learning curve with the technology,” Mederios said. “Now that they understand how convenient it is for them, they are really starting to enjoy it.”

Recently, the students went on a trip to The American Village at Montevallo, a colonial reenactment village.

“We got to see reenactment of the Stamp Act, a replica of Independence Hall, and what a colonial Revolutionary War encampment was like,” Mederios said. “It was a lot of fun for them to go and relate what we talked about a few months ago,”

Mederios says the overall objective is for the students to learn the hybrid system, and to become familiar with it for college.

“I’d love to see the program grow, and for more students to take advantage of it,” she said. “With everything we do, we get to see how history affects all Americans, not just one group.”

Students volunteer to participate in the AP courses.