Last month we heard from Zairyn and Logan Mierau, aged 14 and nine respectively, about their experience with distance learning at Vista Virtual School. This month we hear from the third Mierau brother Samuel, age 11, about his experience as a VVS student.
Like his two brothers, Samuel, a grade 6 student at VVS, leads a busy extracurricular life. He shares his older brother’s passion for sailing, competing in regattas, while also excelling in martial arts, holding his first-degree black belt in Taekwondo.
As with his two brothers, the transition to distance learning was an unexpected turn that wound up suiting him very well.
“I attended Sarah Thompson School in Langdon (AB) until COVID hit, and then I moved to Vista Virtual School,” Samuel explains.
“I’ve stayed because I like it. I like the fact that you can go ahead at your own pace and finish the school year early. Plus, I feel like I learn more this way.”
Samuel particularly likes the accessibility of the teachers at VVS.
“My teachers are always only a phone call away,” he says.
“You don’t have big classes like you do in regular schools, and because everyone is working on something different at any given moment, people aren’t phoning at the same time. I feel like you get more attention from teachers here than at a regular school. They’re all really nice and help you through the tough stuff.”
Math is Samuel’s favourite subject, although he also quite enjoys science class, noting that unlike in his previous school experience, he gets to do more than one science experiment in any given science class. Most of his communication with teachers is over the phone, with additional online meetings for his math and language arts classes.
A typical day in Samuel’s life starts at 7:30 am when he wakes up. A morning person by nature, he finds he is faster and more focused in the morning, and he structures his schedule around this.
“I like to get as much done as I can in the morning,” he explains. “After that I take a break for lunch, maybe watch a show on TV, and then get back to work.”
Samuel’s sailing season is mainly concentrated in the summer and fall, while his Taekwondo keeps him busy all year long. Distance learning, he explains, helps him stay on top of his schoolwork when traveling to regattas, as has been his older brother’s experience. As for the social side of school life, he concedes that he does miss it a bit but that his three-times-a-week sports club meets help compensate for this lack.
Samuel’s future goals include promotion to second-degree black belt and eventually a career as a naval aviator.
What are his study and organizational secrets?
“I like organizing my units in different drawers, and I have a timetable that helps me keep on track,” he explains.
“The advantage of Vista is that you can get ahead early, but it’s sometimes hard to stay focused. The drawer system and the timetable help me with this.”
Ultimately, he says he would gladly recommend VVS to his peers.
“Vista is a great school that helps you learn. I would recommend it because of the flexibility and the attention you get from teachers. I’m not sure what I’ll be doing in the future in terms of school, but for now I have no complaints; it’s great as it is.”