Imagine riding to the store, with four other people, on one motor scooter. Now imagine that all meals are communal, and everyone uses their hands to eat.  Sound like fun?

Cayla Poborsky laughed as she described many of these new norms of her daily life. A PA Distance alumni, Cayla has been teaching English in Thailand since 2013, and has come to love her new home. 

Strong willed and sarcastic as they come, Cayla is one of a kind.  Her parents brought her up to be self-motivated, and that's much of the reason we were a good fit for her.  She wanted to be able to work while in high school, and PA Distance offered her that flexibility.  Cayla definitely moved onto college with more independence than the average student.

Why do bad things happen to kids?

I could cite you statistics on what is happening, where it’s happening, and how often. I could even tell you countless stories; but I still couldn’t tell you why.  It’s hard to know what to do.  While some of us might feel paralyzed in the face of the innocent suffering, others, like PA Distance senior Molly D., walk directly toward it.

“Our inner world has a reality and a power that can keep us from being victims of circumstance and compel us to take responsibility for our own lives.”

– Parker Palmer, The Courage to Teach

She had a pet skunk as a child. 

She uses the term “pow-wow” on a regular basis.

She’s a ballerina. 

She teaches yoga.

She once spent over a month backpacking Europe by herself.  

Oh, yeah! She’s also our technology teacher – and frankly, I think Ms. Susannah Azzaro is perfect for the job.

It is National School Choice week, and someone like me has a lot to celebrate.

“I can only answer the question, ‘What am I to do?’ if I can answer the prior question, ‘Of what story or stories do I find myself a part?’”
– Alasdair MacIntyre

Every New Year Eve as a kid, my siblings and friends watched The Lion King, while the boring parents played games upstairs.  We ate kielbasa and sauerkraut, and chips with salsa.  Those are precious memories, and worthy traditions.  What traditions do you have (or did you have) throughout the year?

Well, Jamie Conrad has started new tradition at PA Distance – it’s called, “Storytime.” Every Wednesday, at 2:00 PM, K-3 students can come together through a link on the SIS homepage for some pure enjoyment, as Ms. Conrad reads them a few stories.   

But Storytime isn’t really a new tradition – Ms. Conrad is sharing something much bigger.

I recently reconnected with an old classmate and friend from PA Distance. Upon discovering we live 40 minutes apart, we decided to meet halfway to catch up.  As it turns out, only rural residential land lay between us, so the only public place we could find remotely halfway was an old truck stop.  So, after 4 years, Rachel Chick Kunzen and I got coffee and sat in truck stop for hours talking. 

Soon we found that we both got married on the same day, and used yellow as our wedding color.  Besides that coincidence, since we last saw each other she’s also lived in Africa and became a fantastic photographer (check out her page here).  I caught her up on my happenings, and we had a good laugh that I was back at PA Distance.  But amidst all of life’s changes, we were able to go back to the questions that brought us together as friends nearly 10 years before. 

Warning: what you are about to read involves some thoughts of angsty high schoolers who grew up.