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MCHS alternative program adds six graduates to Class of 2014

Nate Waggenspack
Joy Tegtman, center, is the instructor of Moffat County School District's alternative school. The school enables students with alternative goals and plans to get their diploma. Trey Choice, left, and Laurel Tegtman, right, are both juniors who are graduating in 2014, a year earlier than planned.
Erin Fenner

Among the 100-plus graduating from Moffat County High School this year are six students who have earned their diploma by taking a different path than the usual one.

Instead of heading to the school building five days a week from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., this group took advantage of the opportunity to get a cap and gown through the school’s Y.E.S. Alternative Education Program, which allows students to do their learning online. The members of the class of 2014 who used this Alternative Program are as varied in their studies and backgrounds as those who are graduating by following the typical path.

“I love this group of kids. I enjoy getting to work with them,” said Joy Tegtman, who runs the alternative program from MCHS. “It’s a very divergent group. We have some very extraordinary, competitive students and some who are behind on credits and trying to get caught up.”



The alternative program, taught with a curriculum from Apex Learning, is there for students with a variety of needs. Some students there have fallen behind and need a way to earn their missing credits at a different pace, while others take advantage of Y.E.S. to push through faster. Laurel Tegtman and Thorin Jackson are both graduating a year early by using the alternative school to get through the low number of credits they needed to finish high school.

“For some kids I don’t think this works well. They need the structure of daily school to do well,” Joy Tegtman said. “But for some kids it’s fabulous. I think you can get just as much out of this.”



Y.E.S. is helpful for students whose schedule doesn’t make seven hours of school five days a week easy, too. Secia Corball has a young child, but is graduating because the alternative school allows for more flexibility.

“Her life is overwhelming, so as long as she’s getting her work done and checking in with us as often as possible, we can be flexible,” Tegtman said. “She can come up here for a couple hours a day and still be with her baby.”

Other students fell behind for other reasons, but with a classroom to show up to each day and the opportunity to learn a curriculum at the pace they choose, Moffat County High School has members of the Class of 2014 who wouldn’t be there otherwise.

Contact Nate Waggenspack at 970-875-1795 or nwaggenspack@craigdailypress.com. Follow him on Twitter at @CDP_Sports .


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