While growing up, Cassie never became too attached to friends in school. Her family moved around about once a year—making friends stopped being worth the effort.

“High school kids are not exactly known to be friendly sometimes,” Cassie said. “The pressures and school atmosphere for the social aspect was hard for me to want to deal with.”

Cassie shared her frustrations with her mother, who found Graduation Alliance in an online search, and discovered they could use a partnership with the local school district for Cassie to earn her high school diploma online.

“The flexibility it gave my schedule was great; I could do work and classes on own time,” Cassie said. “It also helped me be more accountable and learn how to manage time better—I learned to procrastinate less.”

With diploma in hand, the Davenport, Iowa, native is excited to explore future opportunities in college, though she’s not quite sure what field she wants to go into.

“I’m looking forward to college,” Cassie said. “Thank you, Graduation Alliance.”