Scholars traveled (virtually) as homeroom groups to Paraguay, the Canary Islands, and Mexico, learning about the history of Spanish colonization and the diversity of Spanish-speaking cultures in the Americas. These opportunities for cultural research helped to enrich the study of the Spanish language for our scholars taking Spanish 1-3, bringing history, geography, and language together for a deep understanding of the world’s workings!

Keeping a global perspective, the online learning scholars also learned about the origins of Halloween and how it came across the Atlantic to become an American holiday. Of course, the annual K-5 Online Scholar Halloween Parade was a fun activity where scholars get to show off their creativity and spooky costumes!

Brenda Melkonyan is a 12-grader this year, and her brother Aram graduated from Compass, Class of 2019. Brenda took a moment out of her senior schedule to share a little about herself and her experiences with Compass’ online learning community.

Hello, my name is Brenda, and I am a student here at Compass! This is my senior year. I also attend a local community college and have been taking classes for three years. I absolutely love attending Compass, and I will be graduating as of June 2023.

Some of the hobbies and interests that I have developed over my high school years include reading, a profound love for writing, painting, and a passion for playing the electric guitar. Some school subjects that I am deeply interested in always learning about are art history, film and cinema history, interior design, chemistry, psychology, and sociology. Speaking of art, this is my favorite painting, The Swing by Jean Honore Fragonard.

I have been a 4 and 5-grade online teacher for six years, the two years prior to that I was a Digital Literacy Specialist.

How long have you worked for this organization?

I have worked at Compass for eight years.

I absolutely love helping children navigate their learning. It fills my cup to see them smile when they work hard on a concept and finally understand the skill at hand.

As an educator and a mother, I believe that choice is a huge motivator in learning and doing. If children have a voice in how they learn or what to tackle first, it gives them a drive as well as a springboard to understanding what choices good choices and which ones are not. Everyone strives to be free and having choice and/or flexibility helps foster that need.

Share one thing about you that very few people know.

I am vegan (not strictly, if someone makes something from their heart, I’ll eat it. I just don’t buy meat or animal products) and I let my children choose how they eat, so they can choose what is right for them.

We love spending time together camping, going to the beach, gardening, hiking, playing games, exploring and being silly together. All of us enjoy reading, have a fond love of nature and helping others around us.

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