Many students make the decision to go part-time the second semester of their senior year due to scheduling reasons. One De Soto High School student made the choice to go part time as a junior.

Junior Mackenzie Clark made this decision at the beginning of the 2016-17 school year.

This year is not Clarke’s first year of online schooling. Clarke moved to the De Soto school district her seventh grade year and did a full year of online schooling before going to public school.

“My seventh grade year when I moved, I started off the school year doing full time online school. I went to public school full time again after that year and I started missing it a little bit,” Clarke said.

According to Clarke, she decided to go back to online school because it offered flexibility within her schedule.

“Before this school year, I was torn because I loved getting to see my friends every day and I loved all of the opportunities that came with public school but I also missed the freedom of online school, so I decided to try both by going part time,” Clarke said.

Clarke also enjoys the benefits of going to school online because there is less pressure.

“I ended up loving it because I could work at my own pace and I had more free time. Working at my own pace has been beneficial and I feel like there’s less pressure with online school,” Clark said. “Also just having more time is nice because with Advanced Placement classes this year the homework can be a lot and it’s nice to have the option of getting to leave school a little earlier to get started on homework.”

Clark takes classes in different subjects online and once her work is finished she likes working on her art in her free time.

“Right now I’m just taking a science class online and I take it through Lawrence Virtual School,” Clark said. “After I get my work done, I mostly work on my art.”