KELSEYVILLE, Calif. — Now in its second year, the Kelseyville Learning Academy is offering students the opportunity to take a more active role in tailoring their education.

Class of 2021 Kelseyville Learning Academy, or KLA, graduate Elena Bloomquist encourages students who want more fun and flexibility in their school curricula to consider the academy.

Bloomquist spent her junior and senior year at the alternative school that offers a hybrid approach to learning, sourcing its educational offerings from both traditional and nontraditional origins.

In her graduation speech, Bloomquist said of KLA, “Students are able to flourish by taking control of their own schooling. We’re given so many opportunities to pursue personal interests on top of the required classes. I’ve been able to delve into astronomy, folk harp, creative writing, and traditional art with the support of my school in ways I could not have alone.”

This fall, Bloomquist will attend Aberystwyth University in Wales where she plans to major in creative writing, film and television studies.

KLA is part of the Kelseyville Unified School District, developed for families who want a tailored schedule and curriculum for their students, one that can be completed online or via a home-classroom environment — or a blend of the two.

The 2019-20 school year was its first year and the response was “overwhelmingly positive,” said district Assistant Superintendent Tim Gill.

The school has been growing ever since, including during the pandemic when KLA was especially well suited to supporting students because of its flexible structure.

Bloomquist praised not only the school’s flexible structure but its veteran teachers who worked with her to create a schedule that enabled her to be accepted to a four-year university while also supporting her desire to explore extracurricular areas of study of personal interest.

She said, “[Teacher] Rena Roush has been a huge support. She has been deeply attentive to my learning needs and flexible with finding the exact programs that work for me. She helped me craft my curriculum to not only work but be enjoyable.”

Bloomquist explained that during her junior year, she did not participate in developing her own curriculum much, instead taking Roush’s recommendations to follow a program that helped her stay on track with her university goals.

However, for her senior year, she was deeply engaged in crafting her own curriculum.

“You get to decide how much effort you want to put in. You can take the lead or not,” said. “And you can change midstream if things aren’t working. I had an economics class during the pandemic that wasn’t a good fit for me, so I worked with my teacher to re-evaluate and was able to enroll in a different economics class that worked better for me,” she said. “I believe that having more learning options works for different learning styles in children. It turns high school into a much more interactive and personalized experience. At the least, it did for me.”

KLA high school students who want to participate in extracurricular activities or select classes at Kelseyville High School are free to do so, including sports, career technical education, and more.

For high school students interested in pursuing a career, KLA offers a hybrid academic/work-study program and an early college program for those who want to begin classes at community colleges such as Mendocino College or Woodland Community College.

“There are many ways to achieve a goal. At Kelseyville Unified, we are committed to making sure that all students have a chance to succeed,” Roush said.

Families who want to enroll their students simply need to call KLA and schedule an enrollment meeting.

If the students live in the Kelseyville Unified School District area but have never enrolled their student in public school, they simply need to bring proof of residency.

Students who live in Lake County or any adjacent county can enroll in KLA, including Mendocino, Sonoma, Napa, Colusa, Yolo and Glenn counties. Those who reside outside the Kelseyville Unified School District simply need to apply for an interdistrict transfer before enrolling.

For more information about KLA, call 707-279-4305.