From the moment my students started having success in my in-person classes, people told me that I needed to put what I had learned into an online class format. I resisted. I declined. I flat out said, “NO!” It felt inauthentic to me. As a counselor, I was never interested in building a huge business or “going on shark tank.” I simply wanted to teach the one student sitting in front of me. I felt like every student was a divine appointment. An online class felt too distant and removed.

However, the global pandemic of 2020 brought my in-person classes to an abrupt stop. I canceled and refunded three months of classes in a two-week time frame. I planned to simply hunker down with my family in Lexington, Kentucky. However, on one particular afternoon in March 2020, I answered a phone call from Dr. Carol Christian, the director of The Craft Academy. She was adamant that I put my in-person class into an online format. Now was the time. She said that there were smart kids all over the state of Kentucky who desperately needed my help, and they would never have the opportunity to attend one of my in-person classes.

“If you aren’t interested in teaching to the masses,” she said, “perhaps you would be willing to teach to that ONE STUDENT who would never make it into one of your in-person classes. Perhaps you would be willing to teach that ONE STUDENT who needed confidence and guidance to tackle this test. Could you create an online class that would change the life of just ONE STUDENT?”

She offered all of the resources of the Craft Academy to make it happen.

I told her that I would need to think about it. But, changing the life of just ONE STUDENT resonated with me. I had been running myself ragged teaching classes all over the state and now my whole calendar had just instantly cleared. Amazingly, my husband already had the skills needed to film, edit, and create an online class. He simply needed a teacher who was ALL IN.

We ordered cameras, lights, and microphones and rented out a classroom in a church two minutes from our home. For the next three months, we worked tirelessly putting our best effort into our work. I looked into that camera, and I taught my heart out to that ONE STUDENT who I knew I would never meet. I did everything I knew to do to help that ONE STUDENT raise their score so that they could have easier access to higher education.

I was still unsure if the online class would connect with anybody. But, now almost four years past those early days of the pandemic, I am continually shocked by how many people it has helped. Because of the way it is structured, offering even more practice questions and insight than the in-person class, students all over the country are having success on the ACT.

In January of 2021, I got this email:

“My son has enjoyed and greatly benefited from your online course. Thank you for the work you have put into each and every lesson. Your commitment to young people is so apparent in each and every one.”

This email brought me to tears. The intangible quality that I was so afraid of losing in the online class was still there. And I am still here, four years later, with a little more confidence now to share what I have learned. I am also so thankful for Keith, my team, and my friend and co-worker, Karen, who ships out online orders like these—daily—to families all over the United States.