TTU K-12 Becomes Solution for School Bullying

By Leslie Cranford, Media Relations Coordinator

July 6, 2018

Katye Clark was a victim of bullying at her public high school in a small West Texas Town. But as a junior in the mid-1990s, she was introduced to TTU K-12, then in its infancy. She began taking a few distance-learning courses in order to graduate early.

“For a while I was enrolled simultaneously in public high school and the TTU K-12 program,” Katye said. “But with the situation at school not changing, my parents and I decided it was a better idea to just finish by distance learning. They withdrew me, and I finished high school through the TTU K-12 program.” In fact, she finished part of her junior year and all her senior year in about seven months.

“I attended the program before it was computer-based. I had a professor in my master's program later tell me that my experiences as a student who graduated from this type of program made me a better college student, including writing and other skills. Now, I'm putting those skills to use writing my dissertation,” Katye added.

As a high school student, Katye quickly became attracted to attending Texas Tech as a college student. She has since completed a Bachelor of Science in Human Development and Family Studies, a Master's of Arts in Sociology, a Master's of Education in Counselor Education, and she plans to complete her Ph.D. in Counselor Education requirements by this coming December's graduation. 

“I have had a few questions if I had a ‘real' high school diploma and confrontations about it being like a GED,” Katye explained.

“That same Master's professor told me that I knew how to write a paper unlike any he had ever seen before. In talking with me, he decided it was because I had been pushed, even in this high school program, to be college-ready, and that I had done a lot of that independently.”

Katye said she is excited about TTU K-12 and how it's changed since she was enrolled, back when it was print-based. She is even considering having her daughter, a junior in high school, complete some of her coursework through the program.

“I keep running into TTU K-12 representatives at counseling conferences, and I'm thrilled that it has grown the way it has,” Katye said. “When I started, I think a lot of people didn't even know the program existed, and I spent a lot of time explaining it to people. Now, more and more people are aware, and it's just amazing. I was in a tough situation at my public high school, and I'm unsure where I would be had your program not been in place.”