Casey Martinez,
Junior
Woodburn Arts & Communications Academy

“My teachers won’t let me fail.”

Casey Martinez is a junior at the Woodburn Arts & Communications Academy (WACA) one of the four small schools on the Woodburn High School campus that opened in the fall of 2006 with funding and coaching from the E3 Oregon Small Schools Initiative.  WACA is a small school committed to offering students a challenging academic and arts education.  Students who are interested in arts find their “voice” through improvisation, inquiry, composition, interpretation, practice, performance and critique.  The school also offers a full International Baccalaureate diploma course of study.

Last fall Woodburn High School converted into four smaller schools and Casey chose the Arts & Communications Academy because of his interest in digital photography, and as he says, “That’s where some of my friends were going.”  He admits that prior to converting to small schools he found the large high school distracting.  “There was so much going on, and I really didn’t know my teachers.” said Casey.  “And I didn’t do well in school.”  In fact, Casey wasn’t able to get his grades up high enough to participate on the basketball team – something he had wanted to do for two years.

After only a little more than half a year in the small school environment, Casey’s grades have improved significantly and he is finally eligible to play on the Woodburn Bull Dog’s basketball team.  “I think the biggest difference is that my teachers all know who I am,” said Casey. “They get after me…and help me after school.  They just won’t let me fail.”

Casey credit Ms. Patten, his language arts teacher, his coaches and other teachers for “getting after him” to succeed.  He talks about how more of his teachers know who he is now and they seem to take a more personal interest in what he’s doing. “Yeah, I like the small school,” said Casey.