Please allow an unapologetically proud mama just a moment, as I want to share my pride in my son Drake and my gratitude to those who’ve helped him achieve his goals.

You see, when Drake was young, he always had a lot of medical issues – being born early, lungs collapsing, aspirating in his lungs for years, breathing treatments, and his rare heart condition from Covid. The list just goes on and on. In first grade, he was diagnosed with ASD, dyslexia,  and ADHD. Needless to say, his elementary years were rough.

So we made the decision in sixth grade to enroll him in Compass Academy in Conway with the help of the Succeed Scholarship, which has since been absorbed into the state’s Education Freedom Account (EFA) school choice program. It was the best decision we ever could have made. I was just hoping to help him out socially, but within the first three months, he found a love of learning that changed his world, thanks to many wonderful teachers, with two in particular instilling his drive to learn everything.

Then Drake came to his father and I last year, in the ninth grade, asking if he could apply to go to the Arkansas School for Mathematics, Sciences and the Arts (ASMSA). This is the top-ranked high school in Arkansas, where it takes a lot to make the cut. It’s a residential public high school where he will have a dorm room more than an hour away from home. We were shocked, but we couldn’t hold him back.

This year, his sophomore year, we began the long process of applying: interviews, essays, grade submissions, recommendation letters, etc. In March he made the semi-finalist round but still harbored doubts he’d get in. Then, in May, we found out that he had been accepted! In three short months, my firstborn baby boy moves out at 16!

With him will go his determination and strength to overcome the impossible. And we owe so much to Compass for helping him achieve and to the Succeed Scholarship for opening that door for him. Though no longer on the scholarship, we’re grateful it lives on in the EFA, because different kids need different things at different times in their education.