Gifted Student Flourishes at Xceed While Still Having Time for her Family and Personal Passions

As a full-time competitive gymnast and a gifted homeschool student, Cori Gathings’s family decided to look for an educational option that would challenge her more academically but still enable her to focus on her interests outside of school.

Her local public school was not an option. With 30 or more students in a class, there wouldn’t be a focus on Cori’s needs as a gifted child. When Cori and her mom found Xceed Preparatory Academy, they both knew they found the answer. The only problem? Cori was a 5th-grader and XPA’s program starts at 6th grade.

“When we met with the Xceed Preparatory Academy team,” said Danielle White, Cori’s mom, “they recognized that Cori was working at an accelerated pace and agreed to bring her in, personalizing her courses and allowing her to go as fast as she needed to.”

Now, as an 8th-grader, Cori says that she loves and appreciates the freedom and flexibility to work at her own pace, and that the teachers and staff are not only encouraging, but they also understand when a traditional academic path might not align with her strengths.

“For example, I struggled with a particular math course, so I received more one-on-one support for that subject,” Cori shared. “However, because of that attention, my teacher pointed out that I was really good at Algebra, so I enrolled in that course the next term. And guess what? I excelled in it. At other schools, the experience of my first math class might have turned me off from taking another math class, but not at Xceed. They knew I could excel in the subject; it was just a matter of finding the right course.”

As a mom, Danielle says that she’s involved but doesn’t have to hover. “Xceed is setting Cori up for real life. She is expected to handle her own schedule and they’ve prepared her incredibly well for working both in-person and virtually.”

Danielle and Cori both agree that another strength of Xceed is that there is no homework allowing Cori to participate in extracurricular activities, spend more time with her family and have outside experiences such as traveling and cultural visits.

“Without assigning homework, Xceed is empowering her to be child; to explore her interests and passions while also allowing us to continue to have a tight family bond,” Danielle said.

“But I also get great experiences on campus like yoga classes, Student Council, Cooking Club and the National Junior Honors Society,” Cori said. “So, it’s the best of both worlds.”

When asked what motivates her in such a flexible school environment, Cori said, “I’m motivated by good grades. I like to work for what I have, and I love seeing the impact of my hard work.”

To learn more about Xceed Preparatory Academy’s educational model, click here.