Orginially published on Magic Valley – April 4th, 2024
Kya Martens, a high school student in Burley, attends classes a bit differently than her peers.
While most high school students go to school from Monday to Friday in person, Kya logs onto her computer and completes assignments for her virtual school, Idaho Technical Career Academy (ITCA), and then heads off to her internship.
Kya, who plans to become a pharmaceutical technician, applied for ITCA because it offers a pharmacy technician certification course. Prior to registering, she attended Idaho Virtual Academy for six years because she wanted to stay closer to home and have more free time during her day to day schedule.
Since switching to virtual school, Kya has been able to spend more time not only hanging out with her family and breeding dogs — two of her favorite pastimes, but she has also been able to complete an internship at her local Walgreens, where she gains a bit of early experience in her future career.
“It’s an unpaid internship,” she says. “I go there once a week to learn how to fill medications and prescriptions and handle freight. [I’ve] learned more about what a pharmacist’s job is.”
Due to her hard work, Kya is the valedictorian of her class. After graduation, she plans to attend Arizona State University virtually and begin the pharmacy program once she completes her prerequisites.
Kya enjoys attending virtual school because its provides less time constraints in comparison to regular school.
“You can travel back and forth and hang out with your family whenever you want to. I feel like when you’re attending virtual school, it doesn’t take all day,” she says. “You can choose when your breaks are.”
To learn more about Idaho Technical Career Academy, please visit https://itca.k12.com/.
