With a plethora of classes and schedules to accommodate students, one at Westside is taking advantage of her opportunities and taking higher-level classes than her freshman peers.

Beatrice Hammel, a Westside freshman who was homeschooled from grades four to eight, is currently enrolled in Spanish 4 Honors, Latin 2 and Advanced-Algebra Honors. Of course, she had the pre-requisites for each class thanks to her five years of school at home.

“Since I had my mom as a tutor, I could go through things easily,” Hammel said. “I had a lot of help and advice.”

Though several freshman are in Advanced Algebra Honors, Hammel is the only freshman in Spahish 4 Honors. To attain this spot, she spent a past summer honing her skills on the language.

Last summer, Hammel attended a Spanish immersion camp in Minnesota which allowed her to finish Spanish 3. According to Hammel, she was in an environment where they spoke only Spanish on somedays along with learning about the language as well as Spanish culture throughout the month-long camp. In addition, she is looking to spend time out of the country this upcoming summer and live with a Spanish speaking host family to continue her language training.

Unfortunately, being in excelled classes does have drawbacks — especially in the social realm.

“It’s kind of weird: I dont really socialize with the other older kids in Spanish,” Hammel said. “In Latin I do because they are only a year older, or two. But in Spanish I’m kind of quiet and they’re really old.” Hammel said. “No one’s asked me my age yet this semester, but I feel out of place.”

Despite some isolation from older students in class, Hammel is adjusting to changes from homeschooling to public high school.

“Westside is a really good school to switch into because it’s more like a college and a little more free,” Hammel said. “But school in itself is a big switch because at home, my mom and I could choose what we wanted to do and do it in whatever order we needed…and here, I don’t have my mom to guide me along. I have to teach myself and use online materials and ask teachers.”

Hammel plans on continuing down the path she’s on. In the next three years of her high school career she plans on finishing up her math requirements, taking several AP classes and taking an independent study Spanish 6 to wrap up her languages.