‘Underdog’ Class of 2026 graduates 20 from Edmonds eLearning Academy

Twenty seniors attended the Edmonds eLearning Academy commencement ceremony and accepted their diplomas Wednesday afternoon at the Edmonds School District Stadium.

Principal Kim Hunter said eLearning Academy’s Class of 2026 is “the ultimate nocturnal underdog story,” rejecting the idea that online school is the easy route. She said high school students in traditional settings have a bell schedule and tardy sweeps that let them know where they need to be.

“You didn’t have those things at e-learning,” Hunter said. “You had to build your own structure out of the chaos of being a teenager. You had to become your own time managers, your own tech support and your own alarm clocks. You had to battle the quiet, invisible bosses of online learning, the temptation of open browser tabs or using just a little AI, the sudden and tragic loss of Wi-Fi right before a deadline.”

She likened the graduates to owls — hence their mascot — that “fly silently, see what everyone else misses, and thrive when the rest of the world is asleep,”

“You are no longer the underdogs trying to prove you can survive the night. You are the champions who own it,” Hunter said.

Science teacher Terrence Thomas told a story of his winding career path, from wanting to be a bush pilot or game warden to becoming a teacher after working at different restaurants for seven years.

“During my first few years in the restaurant industry, I realized that I wanted to work with people, not just plants and animals. More specifically, I wanted to work with teenagers,” Thomas said.

He told the graduates they will “stumble and fall” but can recover if they pause, “dust yourself off” and return to that core question as they choose careers, relationships and places to live.

Student speaker Caroline Taylor thanked teachers and staff for being a “steady presence behind our screens.”

“Graduating from an online high school requires a strength and a discipline that most people don’t see,” she said. “We did this in our own ways, on our own terms, and if we can do that, we can do anything.”

Senior Isaac Chavez was named the E-Learning Academy Scholarship awardee, receiving the William Anderson III Memorial Scholarship for $5,000. He made the Dean’s List at Edmonds College for all four quarters he attended, volunteered as a junior camp counselor and plans to attend the University of Washington, with the goal of becoming a secondary science teacher.

Chavez told My Edmonds News that he plans to get a double major in chemistry and earth and space science. He thanked the Running Start program at Edmonds College for giving him this opportunity.

“I’m really fascinated with natural processes and how certain things like minerals and crystals are formed, and I feel like geochemistry will touch on that a lot,” he said.

For future high school graduates who would like to earn a scholarship, Chavez suggested they apply for Running Start. “It’s a cheaper way to do college, and it also actually allows you to earn a college degree faster, and it looks better on scholarship applications,” he said.