Melissa Marie Ayling expected the worst.
“I was thinking that the students were going to be crazy people that brought guns to school,” she said.
That image shattered the first time Ayling stepped into Reconnect Alternative Program’s portable classrooms behind Howe Sound Secondary School. Three years later and she’s made the shortlist for a prestigious international scholarship, organized the class to sponsor a student in a developing nation and created an awareness video dispelling the misperceptions of Squamish’s alternative learning program.
“Regular school was always tough for me,” the Grade 11 student said. “I am the kind of person that always likes reassurance that I am doing something right.”
Ayling’s always been a good student. Her report cards consisted of Bs. But after a string of ongoing migraine headaches, Ayling couldn’t maintain regular school hours.
“By Grade 8, I dropped out because the pain was so bad,” she said.
Upon returning to Squamish after her family spent a few years in Campbell River, Ayling entered the Sea to Sky School District’s online program. For two hours, two days a week, she would meet a teacher at the Squamish Public Library to go over her online work. Now, five days a week, Ayling attends the alternative program. She knows her teachers well and she’s excited for the lessons. When the work gets difficult, she takes a deep breath and ploughs through the problem. Ayling doesn’t get as frustrated as she used to.
“It is just so good. I love coming to school. I love learning,” Ayling said.
And it shows. This year Ayling was one of 10 people from Canada, the United Kingdom and France interviewed for the Vimy Foundation’s Beaverbrook Vimy Prize. Winners take part in an intensive scholarship program in Europe, participating in educational seminars and museum events in England, Belgium and France.
Making the shortlist is a “huge accomplishment,” Ayling’s teacher Cory Hart said.
“All of Squamish should be proud of her tenacity,” he wrote in an email to The Chief.
Ayling continues to raise money for the class’s sponsored student, 8-year-old Eneline Congo, from the landlocked West African country of Burkina Faso. She has also posted her awareness video about alternative schools on YouTube.
As for the future, Ayling said the Reconnect Alternative Program planted the idea of becoming a teacher in her head.
“I think I want to keep giving kids a good experience,” she said.
