For senior Jordan Matlock, school doesn’t start at 7:50 a.m. Matlock is able to get up at whatever time she needs to in order to get her daily assignments done, unbound by the constraints of a normal schedule.

“Most days I honestly don’t even worry about getting ready,” Matlock said. “I’m able to have appointments and stuff like that during the days without having to worry about missing school. Some days I’ll spend 6-8 hours at Black Dog Coffeehouse working on school.”

Since May 22, 2014, 12 seniors have transferred to an online school, including Matlock. In that same period of time, one junior and five sophomores transferred, according to registrar Deana Thom.

Students like Matlock are able to receive a high school education while learning at an individualized pace at home.

Sophomore Austin Sanchez is another such student. Once a student at Mill Valley, he is now enrolled as an online student at the Basehor-Linwood Virtual School, along with Matlock.

“Online classes seem to be much easier and less stressful than others,” Sanchez said. “They’re mostly things I’ve learned before mixed with new things so it makes it easier not always having new things.”

According to Matlock, a student in online school has the ability to work at his or her own pace, without worrying about where the rest of the class is. Students receive a packet at the beginning of the semester with all of the work for their classes in the coming semester. All tests except for final exams can be taken online. In order to be able to take school online, a student must go through the process of transferring out of traditional school.

This transfer didn’t bother Sanchez. For Sanchez, the transition process “was actually quite easy.”

“Even though it’s a distance away, it’s still very easy,” Sanchez said. “It was just like signing up for traditional school.”

Although his life at home remains relatively unchanged, Sanchez has felt the effects of the transfer in his social life.

“Family hasn’t been affected whatsoever,” Sanchez said. “As for friends I don’t really talk to them anymore. I talk to a couple but not everyone.”

Matlock decided to enroll in online school in order to finish her senior year early.

“In January I’m moving to South Africa for a semester to do an internship with the nonprofit One Life,” Matlock said. “So to finish my senior year before I leave I’m doing it all online at a much quicker pace to graduate in December.”

Sanchez, on the other hand, has much different reasons.

“I have two reasons,” Sanchez said. “I’ve got medical problems that made going to [traditional school] a lot harder and more stressful than is should be. And the second reason is because I could graduate a year earlier.”

For Matlock, online school is a positive experience, but traditional school still offers benefits online  can not.

“I would recommend it 100 percent,” Matlock said. “However, I wouldn’t recommend it just because you want to sleep in or because you want less stress. Also, I wouldn’t recommend doing your entire high school career online. Some things I [learned] in [traditional] school just aren’t really taught online, like [communication arts teacher Dorothy] Swafford teaching us how to outline a research paper definitely came in handy when writing my 11-page senior research paper.”