I became a student at Victory Academy in 2012. Before that, school was unbearable. I never felt supported and I was often bullied. It got so bad that I was frequently ill at just the idea of having to go back.
When my parents first discovered Victory, I was nervous about it. I worried that I would have no friends, that the teachers wouldn’t like me, and that I wouldn’t learn anything. Boy was I wrong! In less than a week, I felt fully loved, supported, academically challenged, and I made a ton of friends. And it’s not just the classroom teachers that made such a difference in my life.
The occupational therapist helped me conquer my balance issues and taught me how to ride a bike. Their speech therapist found fun ways to help me with my speech apraxia and shyness around it. As a result, I went on to perform in several school plays. In music class, I learned how to play the piano because I was taught in a way that made sense to me. In art class, I learned how to sketch and became quite good at it. Before Victory, I cringed at the idea of drawing but now I sketch all the time. At the school coffee shop, I learned how to run a cash register, cook, and make a fantastic latte. In 2018, I obtained my first paying job at Killer Burger, thanks to Victory’s WE program.
It’s safe to say that as the years went by at Victory, their impeccable staff provided me with not just an academic education and confidence, but the life skills I needed to grow and thrive as an adult.
In 2019, I decided that for my senior year, I wanted to try public high school. I love basketball and wanted to play on a high school team. Victory’s PE teacher helped me train for tryouts, and my classroom teacher went with my parents and me to meetings at the public school to ensure that I would be properly supported. In 2020, I graduated from that public school where I was an integral part of the varsity basketball team.
Now, I am living my best life in large part due to the extraordinary opportunities Victory provided me. I will always be thankful to them and in the future, I hope to return to Victory Academy as an adaptive physical education instructor.
-Spencer Allard
