MAIKAYLA Smith-Wilson said she would have laughed if told a year ago how much progress she'd make after being offered a second chance.
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Maikayla, 18, had enrolled at Alesco Senior College - an independent school for students unable to finish school in a traditional setting - successfully completed half of her Higher School Certificate and was preparing for the second half when her life started to veer off-course.
"It just got too hard," she said.
"I got my licence and freedom.
"I still caught the bus to school, but found it harder to wake up.
"I found myself showing up late to school and then for only one period and then just nothing at all.
"I was throwing my life away. I got suspended from work.
"I don't know what I was doing. Alesco said 'Maikayla you need to come to school, we want you to be here'."
She said she decided she too wanted to work towards a brighter future.
Maikayla is one of 14 students to enrol in Alesco's new Year 13.
"If someone told me that last year I would probably laugh in their face," she said.
"[But] I knew it was going to get better, because it always does, it was just a matter of time."
Alesco already offers HSC Pathways, which allows students to sit the HSC over two years.
Students sit the preliminary course, HSC course and final exam for three subjects in year 11 and the same for the remaining three subjects in year 12.
Their choice of subjects determine whether they receive an ATAR, or VET qualifications.
Alesco head teacher special projects Justin Henderson said Pathways allowed students to "think in three different directions at once instead of six".
"These guys are going through one of the stages in their life where the brain is reconfiguring itself and for them to have to pull their brain in six different directions at once - as well as all the other stuff going on in their life - can be super stressful," he said.
"This is the lowest impact version of it [the HSC] we've found.
"It's like with anything, if you break it up into chunks it makes it easier to handle.
"We offer them a chance to say 'Yeah I finished school', in whatever form that might be."
The Year 13 model gives students an additional year to "patch up any holes in their HSC" if they haven't been able to complete some subjects.
By enrolling in Year 13 students can sit a new Atwea course called Senior Career Planning Skill Set, which can include paid work placement. Year 13 is also open to students who have completed their HSC but want to do extra study to develop skills for work.
Maikayla said she had anxiety and "was not accepted" at her previous high school, which she attended to year 10 before moving to Alesco.
She completed her HSC in Design and Technology, Business Studies and English in 2018.
She studied Maths, Aged Care and Visual Design last year, but only completed Visual Design.
She had started a new relationship, met friends who were bad influences and stopped going to school.
"I had no-one to blame but myself," she said.
"But my life flipped upside down when I got back from a trip to Bali [and stopped associating with them].
"I thought 'No one can better yourself but you Maikayla, wake up'.
"I realised I have people supporting me, saying 'You can do this, you can put your mind to it' - so I did."
Maikayla is now studying for a Community Services certificate two and will soon begin studying online subject Work Studies.
"I got a second chance," she said.
"They welcomed me with open arms."
She said her sleeping schedule is back on track and she hasn't missed a day. She expects to finish her HSC this year.
"I'm very grateful... I've bounced back as strong as I did," she said.
"I'm a lot happier. I was in a very dark place last year but all I had to do was trust myself, believe in myself and get all the negative energy out, which I'm still trying to do."
She hopes to become a youth worker and then a paramedic.
She hasn't ruled out becoming an Alesco teacher.
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