My name is Rachel W. and I started UT High School at the beginning of my junior year. Completing classes feels more rewarding since I can now spend more time with family and focus on my favorite subjects of math and science. The online high school has opened doors to opportunities that were never available to me in a traditional high school, and it makes applying to college during senior year significantly less stressful. Recently, more than three feet of water flooded my house in Hurricane Harvey, and my entire life was uprooted. There was no way I could have completed course work at a traditional school when I was moving from hotel to hotel, crying over my home of fourteen years, and cleaning up the destruction left behind. The flexibility of online school has enabled me to reach my full academic potential during this life altering event. Despite this setback, I am still applying to the University of Texas to pursue chemical engineering in the honors program. My passions are math, chemistry, and physics, and UTHS enables me to pursue my dreams no matter what goes on in my personal life. Deciding to start UTHS is one of the best decisions I have made, and the institution prepares me for a rewarding future in ways that no other school could.