Earning some college credit while in high school has almost become the norm.
But Lindsay’s Weiss’ path to graduating from high school in 2021 with an associate’s degree was definitely not the well-traveled one.
Weiss withdrew from the Mahomet-Seymour School District as a six-grade student, enrolling in a homeschool program called Classic Conversations, a Christian-based educational collective that allows students to dive deep into subjects while also fostering individual curiosity.
The eight students in her cohort met at Grace Church on Mondays for group instruction, then dispersed for the rest of the week as they each tackled their homework assignments.
“It was really tough as a junior high student because when you have a seventh grader and you give them homework on Monday and they just have to have it done by the next Monday…I spent my week just doing fun stuff. I didn’t actually work on my homework. Then it’d be Sunday and I’d be like, ‘Oh no, I don’t have all this stuff done for Monday.’”
Weiss said it was that way for a long time. Until she chose to “train” the muscle dedicated to doing things.
By the time Weiss became a freshman, all of the students had gone their separate ways. Some students stayed in the Classic Conversations AP programs, others joined public school, and others, like Weiss, decided to continue down that homeschool path.
For Weiss, though, she realized she could do more.
Instead of waiting until her senior year to enroll at Parkland, Weiss took on the task as a junior, knowing that in those two years she could also earn an associate’s degree.
“Every second of my day was planned out,” she said. “I was like an expert at managing all my time.”
Along with her high school and college load, Weiss also participated in figure skating, voice and guitar lessons.
“I would go to bed at like 2am,” she said.
That training paid off when every junior’s world was turned upside down in the spring of 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded. Like all other students, Weiss had to make adjustments from going to Parkland in-person to living in a virtual world.
The transition into the virtual world was a little more challenging though, when the family realized that their internet connection would not sustain the online presence needed to get work done.
“My church gave me a key to the building and let me come in every day to connect to the WiFi and get all my online work done,” she said. “It was a real escape for me and a good way to get me out of the house and keep me focused (because I tend to get very distracted when working at home), and I did it nearly every day for a few hours all throughout March, April, and May of 2020.”
That key, along with the support from her mom, voice coach and ice skating coach, opened new doors for Weiss. Not only did she graduate with her high school class at Grace Church on May 14, she also got her diploma with honors from Parkland College last week.
With all of the general classes and a few theatre classes under her belt, Weiss is ready to move onto Lincoln Christian University where she will enter as a junior and study communications.
Then it’ll be time for some fun.
“My plan is to then go audition for Disney on Ice and skate for Disney on Ice for a while,” she said. “It has nothing to do with communications or academic stuff, but I just really wanted to do that.”
Until then, Weiss plans to use her creative spirit at the Bloomington Ice Rink with her coach and friends. They hope to start an adult theater on ice.
“I’m really excited about it because you can do a lot more stuff; there’s a lot more like freedom where you can help choreograph,” she said.
