My name is Victoire LeTourneau. I鈥檓 a junior at the Kent Phoenix Academy in the Performance Learning Center program, or the PLC.

I really like being in the PLC because we do a lot of our classes online and we can work at our own pace. I love that I鈥檝e been able to do my classes faster and finish so many classes that I鈥檝e even skipped a grade. This is only my second year of high school, but I鈥檓 already starting on my junior year classes!

I also like that I can get to know the teachers and staff members in the PLC on a personal level. The PLC really feels like a small family where everyone knows each other and where you are accepted no matter what. This is a big change from my other high school where I didn鈥檛 feel welcome or accepted at all.

One of the best things about the PLC is the Communities In Schools programs. My favorite program is the Mentoring Program and getting to meet with my mentor, Monica. We bonded together right away and she鈥檚 really easy to talk to because she鈥檚 into a lot of the same things as me 鈥搇ike learning, math, and even Sherlock Holmes!

I really like having a mentor because it gives me someone older to talk to who can help me with my problems. Before I started meeting with Monica, I was having a lot of problems with my friends. But Monica helped me make sense of everything and work out my problems so I could concentrate on my schoolwork again.

I recommend to other students that they have a mentor too, because a mentor is someone who can encourage you to get your work done and support you when you鈥檙e having a hard time in your life. Especially if you find the perfect mentor 鈥� like I did 鈥� your mentor is someone you can trust and who is supportive and protective of you no matter what!

In addition to the Mentoring Program, Communities In Schools has a lot of college and career programs too. Last year, I went on a field trip to the University of Washington and I totally fell in love with the school. I got to see the campus life, their huge library, and I found out they have all of the programs I want to go into, which are performing arts and computer science. So now I鈥檓 planning to apply to the University of Washington for college!

I also just got accepted into the new Employment Edge class, where I鈥檒l get to learn about the workforce and do an internship at a local business. My internship will be my first work experience ever! I鈥檓 really excited to learn new job skills, like how to write a resume, and to increase my chances to get a good job later on.

I really love being at the PLC and in all of the Communities In Schools programs. I hope a lot of other students can have the same opportunities that I had to be successful.

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As the bell signaled the end of class and beginning of lunch, students at the Kent Performance Learning Center were anxious and excited not for their hour of freedom but to vote. The Kent PLC was one of over a dozen Performance Learning Centers across the nation that participated in a nation-wide Performance Learning Center Mock Election.

Developed by the Catoosa County PLC staff and students, the Performance Learning Center Mock Election was designed to teach students about the election and the national political process in a hands-on and current way. As stated in the plan of the mock election the purpose was:

鈥淭o Raise civic awareness and interest among new and future teen voters by involving them more directly into an election, not just by voting in one, but actually running one themselves and taking part in most of the major elements of a modern election, including media and telecommunications.鈥�

In all, the PLC mock election recreated the national election on a smaller scale with each Performance Learning Center acting as a state, and the students carrying out the various roles that occur in a national election. The Electoral College was re-created by calculating electoral votes for each participating PLC based on the population of the PLC鈥檚 district. Students not only voted, but wrote blogs about election issues, watched and discussed the presidential debates, acted out various electoral roles such as lobbyists, journalists, and pundits with some select students acting out the roles of the candidates themselves. Along the way students wrote about their experiences and what they learned about the political process that they were participating in and the national election that was happening around them.

Students at the Kent Performance Learning Center participated in this unique experience by acting out the role of voters. Each student filled out a voter鈥檚 registration form, and then received a voter鈥檚 card. Come Election Day, held on Monday, November 3^rd, students lined up to vote in a classroom turned into a mock election precinct.

Jennifer and Fez, the designated Poll Workers, checked in students according to their registered voter list. After being checked in, each voter went to one of three voter booths set up where on a computer they voted for their presidential candidate of choice, and then answered a series of exit polling questions. Before leaving each student received an 鈥淚 Voted鈥� sticker from Jennifer or Fez.

Jennifer and Fez

49 students at the Kent PLC registered to vote, and 36 came out to vote on Monday leaving Kent with a 73.5% voter turn out, well above the national average.

Tuesday, November 4^th, was the big results day. Students at all the participating PLC鈥檚 gathered in classrooms to watch the results be announced via a webcast. The Catoosa County PLC students acted as election reporters, announcing the results for each PLC as votes came in. Kent, with 10 electoral votes, had 30 votes for Obama, 3 for McCain, and 3 for other; resulting in Obama receiving Kent鈥檚 10 electoral votes. Over an hour, results were announced from PLCs in Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Washington, and from Communities In Schools National headquarters. After an hour of watching votes being counted, the final results were in:

Candidate Electoral Vote Total

Barack Obama/Joe Biden (Dem) 151
John McCain/Sarah Palin (Rep) 37

Candidate Popular Vote %

Barack Obama (Dem) 561 64%
John McCain (Rep) 281 32%
Bob Barr (Lib) 30 3%
Ralph Nader (Ind) 4 <1%
Chuck Baldwin (Const) 1 <1%
Gloria la Riva (Soc) 1 <1%

Obama was declared the overwhelming victor. It was easy to tell that the students were excited to participate in the mock election by the cheers of excitement that filled the classrooms after the final results were announced. The mock election was a historical and unique opportunity for PLC students in a year filled with historical and groundbreaking events.

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