We don’t want to brag…except that we do!
Our students are incredible, and we think it’s worth boasting. They come from all different walks of life, and they push on to accomplish their goals.
This month, meet Ryan, who found his passion in the midst of trial. His mom also just so happens to be a counselor here, Ms. Karen Lesh, whom you can read about here.
Meet Ryan Schmitt, Student, bodybuilder
Ryan is a great student here at iSucceed who enjoys working on his 1980 Camaro and, more recently, bodybuilding.
Bodybuilding and powerlifting wasn’t something Ryan always thought he would do, but life opened the path for him one day.
“I played basketball every year until I injured my ankle and needed to rehab,” said Ryan. “When I was rehabbing, I started lifting a lot more. I became interested in bodybuilding when I started to see some results. I instantly became addicted to it because of how I felt and the results that I saw. Although it takes a lot of time, it does not feel like a commitment for me anymore…it is more like a hobby.”
It may be a hobby, but it’s something Ryan is pretty great at, which you can see in the video above bench pressing heavy weights.
“Due to my age and living in Idaho there aren’t many competitions or local clubs to join. I work out at Crunch Fitness and we have a small home gym. I train with my older brother who graduated from iSucceed last year along with local body builders.”
It’s really an iSucceed family. His brother graduated from iSucceed and his mom, Karen Lesh, is a counselor here at iSucceed too!
Being the great mom and counselor she is, Ms. Lesh has encouraged Ryan to get the grades he needs to get into the school he wants. After graduating, he plans to:
“Attend BSU to study forensics and criminology. I am considering joining ROTC at BSU. Post graduation I will work for a year and then apply to the FBI. My goal when starting this year was to get all A’s. I needed to get my GPA to a 3.0 to get accepted into BSU and the other colleges I applied to. I am on track to reaching that goal after this quarter. I will graduate high school with a higher GPA than I thought possible which will hopefully open up some more scholarship opportunities.”
“I became interested in iSucceed because my brother moved over last year as a senior and he liked the flexibility of the school. For me, going into my senior year I only needed six credits to graduate. I chose to become an online student so I could have a flexible schedule to bodybuild and work part time to save money for college,” said Ryan.
To save up for college, Ryan works at Home Depot, where his job includes helping customers load their vehicles and helping them with anything else they need. Ryan says juggling school and work successfully is a matter of setting a schedule at the beginning of every week and sticking to it.
“I like iSucceed because I can create my own school schedule which allows more available hours to work,” said Ryan. “The teachers and staff are available to help whenever I have asked.”
In addition to the teacher’s availability, Ryan’s favorite thing about iSucceed is the flexibility it offers:
“The main benefits are schedule flexibility, good classes and availability of teachers and staff. The flexible schedule allows me to cook my meals and workout two hours a day. I would not be able to work as much and put the dedication and time into the gym if I would have stayed at my previous high school. I have been able to save up a pretty good amount of money for college as well.
For anyone interested in online school, Ryan shares a piece of advice:
“Some people think that switching to online school is easier than being in a building. I can tell you that you do have more flexibility, but the same amount of work. You have to be organized and accountable…I believe that learning to self regulate in online school will transfer to being a good college student.” – Ryan Schmitt, 17
For more information on iSucceed, head here.