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Young victim of bullying found success in online school

A growing number of students in Washington are leaving traditional classrooms and choosing to get their education online.

Among them is 18-year-old Heather Hedges, from Eatonville.

Her mother, Paula Hedges, said she decided to enroll Heather at Washington Virtual Academies, or WAVA, when she started facing extreme bullying in middle school.

“In seventh grade, her grades started to drop,” said Hedges. “She was a very good student and then, all of the sudden, the F's started showing up.”

Hedges said Heather stopped participating in class and stopped talking to anyone but her.

“It got to the point where she was diagnosed as selected mute,” says Hedges. “For six months, she talked to no one but me.”

Hedges said Heather was able to thrive again at WAVA, an online tuition-free public school where students get direct instructions through webcams and interactive software.

Heather is graduating in June.

Jayme Evans is the high school principal at WAVA. She said there’s a need for this kind of school in the state.

When the school opened in 2004, it had 200 students. Now, enrollment is getting close to 5,000.

“There’s a need for it in this state,” said Evans.

She said students have many reasons for enrolling, but bullying is one of the top reasons.

“We have security measures in place to prevent it,” said Evans. “And if it happens, it’s addressed right away.”

Hedges says it’s still not easy for Heather to talk in public but she’s making progress.

Heather said she’s not sure what she will do after graduation but she wants to go to college.

She told us why she likes her high school: “It helped me learn and it made me independent."

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