Help Support Students’ Educational Goals with Indiana Online

Educational Goals

Here at Indiana Online, we are dedicated to helping our learners achieve their educational goals through an innovative, interactive online environment. We believe in equitable access to education for all. No student should be denied an education. While we try to keep our course tuition as affordable as possible, we never want cost to be a deterrent to our program. That’s one of the reasons our Student Scholarship Fund is so important. 

Indiana Online established the fund to help as many students as we possibly can, but we need your help. There are plenty of reasons why students take our online courses, and we want to be able to support each and every one of them. With your donation, we can. 

Take a look at the impact you could have on a student’s educational future. 

Achieve Educational Goals

For some students, taking Indiana Online courses serves to provide extra room in their schedules to take electives or explore a career interest. Before they start planning their college schedule or seeking industry-specific employment, learners have a chance to test the waters and find out if a particular subject is something they want (or don’t want) to pursue. Imagine if you had the chance to explore different interests before beginning college or your career path. Would your career path look different?

One Indiana Online student knew exactly where her interests lay, but was almost unable to pursue them because of a single course. This student’s goal was to study chemical engineering. She even received a full-tuition scholarship from Rose-Hulman, but could only attend if she had a physics class on their final transcript. The student lived with a friend (whose parents helped financially where they could) and worked a part-time job, but it wasn’t enough to pay for the online physics course needed to achieve her educational goal. 

Because of the Indiana Online Student Scholarship Fund, this student was able to take the physics course she needed to attend Rose-Hulman with a full scholarship. 

Get Back on Track for Graduation 

For some students, Indiana Online is one of their last chances to graduate high school. Our courses allow them to get back on track by recovering credits in a course they failed during a previous semester. The consequences of not graduating high school can reach beyond future job prospects.  

“We know a person’s educational attainment impacts their future quality of life, health, living wage employment and sustained earning,” says Katie Jenner, the Indiana secretary of education. “That’s why it’s critical we continue to increase the number of students graduating from high school.”

For one student, this became clear when Division 1 colleges began reaching out to discuss playing basketball. He swiftly realized that in order to play college basketball, he needed to raise his GPA significantly. After this reality check, the student understood that he had done himself a disservice by not applying himself to his studies. However, after working with his counselor and teachers, he began to take online courses through Indiana Online.  

“Since then,” says the student, “I’ve pushed myself harder in the last month than I have with all my first three years of high school. I have a plan and I’m sticking to it. I know what’s at risk if I don’t.  Indiana Online isn’t only helping me get my GPA up, but it’s also helping me buckle down in my high school classes as well.”

Unfortunately, this student’s family was affected by COVID-19 and job loss. He applied for a scholarship through Indiana Online so that he could take stress and pressure off his parents in an already stressful time. 

“I did poorly my first few years of high school, but Indiana Online has truly blessed me with another chance to live my dream of being a Division 1 ball player. There are not enough ‘thank yous’ in this world that I could express. But thank you again for this opportunity and thank you for giving me and others another way, a second chance, at living up to our potential academically.”

Now, when this student is playing basketball with college scouts in the bleachers, he knows that a scholarship is not off the table.

Donate Today 

We believe all students can be successful in an online learning environment with the support of staff, teachers, parents, and mentors. As one of the largest and well-respected online supplemental programs in the state, our program provides an innovative environment so that learners of every type, in any location, may achieve their personal potential.

Your donations to our scholarship fund help Indiana students in your community achieve their educational goals and provide a path toward a brighter future. Donate today to directly impact the education of a student. 

Author

  • Kim Hendrick

    Kim Hendrick is the Executive Director of Indiana Online at Central Indiana Educational Service Center, one of the largest supplemental online high school programs in Indiana. She has more than 29 years of professional experience and plays an important role in the definition of Indiana Online’s direction and charting the course towards strategic objectives through the effective management of key resources and innovation initiatives. She serves on two committees for the national Virtual Learning Leadership Alliance (VLLA) and the SETDA Professional Development Committee. She also served on the Indiana Connected Educator’s Board and the IDOE's Indiana eLearning Leadership Cadre.

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