text: Sometimes life throws curve balls at you. It is impossible to predict what will come next. At any moment, someone could be diagnosed with a medical ailment that takes them out of school. When this happens, the opportunity to learn is stripped away from a child. With the inclusion of a program that allows students to attend class while not being on campus, these kids can still have the chance to continue on with their studies. Another example would be a child dealing with mental illness. As a person diagnosed with severe depression and anxiety, I know what it is like to feel too scared and too low to leave your house. During my sophomore year of high school, my father suffered a stroke. My world was completely shaken up, and the last thing I wanted to do was go to school. The combination of my turbulent home life and my raging mental illness caused me to spend many days out of school. I fell behind, and my grades suffered the consequences. This led me to fall into a deeper hole of mental illness; not even my grades were going well. Taking things day by day, I've done a lot of healing. I come to school most days, and my grades are as good as they've ever been. With this being said, I still have my struggles with mental illness. My family, along with the help of my doctors, has been pushing for the county to allow me to finish off high school through online school. This process has not been easy, but I am very lucky to be in an area where online classes are already offered. I am not the only teenager with mental illness, so I am sure there are other kids going through this. If more schools had a virtual classroom opportunity, it would help thousands of children in the long run.