From the shy student who didn't visit and sat in the classroom listening to a self-professed "friendly person who likes to be silly sometimes," Sarah Crone has blossomed into a student who is as comfortable visiting with teachers and business people as she now is with her peers, including students she didn't know before this year.
"I'm getting along with people and learning team work," Crone said recently, "and getting to know my peers. I'm actually talking to them and getting involved in group projects.
"I was kind of shy," she said demurely, admitting that she learned to talk to other students and said she realized they "would not make fun of me if I said something dumb."
"I bonded with them pretty good," she said. "I became a person who likes to talk a lot."
With a grin, she said: "I made new friends, including with people I never thought I would associate with, like the 'jocks.' I learned that they're pretty cool kids."
Crone blossomed through her year with Pea Ridge Manufacturing and Business Academy and with the encouragement of teacher Cathy Segur.
"Sarah has it in her inherently," Segur said of Crone. "All I'm doing is guiding her. She asks for help, she works hard at studying and at standing up in front of the class.
"It's not me, it's her. We've shown her how to take exams. Sarah does everything on her own."
"She's doing fantastic. She has a sense of humor. She's stood up in front of the School Board; she's sold advertising in the community. I feel the more they (students) can do, the stronger they become and the less fear they have," Segur said.
"She worked very hard out there at community service," Segar said of Crone's work at Pea Ridge National Military Park recently.
At PRMBA, there's a place for everyone, director Charley Clark said.
"Some students struggle with traditional school," he said. "PRMBA is not trying to replace anything. We're trying to add to the high school, add value to the entire school district with what we're doing. Each pathway has taken on its own identity."
"The key is finding what subject you need information. We try to help the students become confident in their own ability," Clark said.
Crone, 17, is a junior. She is in the sales and supply chain, retail marketing and logistics pathway.
"I wanted to further my education," she said. The daughter of Buster and Kathy Crone, Sarah said she was getting bored and annoyed at high school and is glad she chose PRMBA.
"With PRMBA, you get college credit and have options," she said. "If you do your work, sign up and do your work... you can succeed.
"I want to be a business woman. It makes me want to get my work done. Mrs. Segur taught me to be business and professional. I learned that hard work pays off. It's just what people do in life. We've been to a lot of different places ... I got to go to J.B. Hunt, to 40/29 television station, to the Walmart home office," Crone said. "I'm thinking about being an entrepreneur, about maybe going into real estate. It gave me a second chance to be a leader."
Praising her teachers, she said: "They've very good at what they're doing; they're very skilled. They know what they're doing and are very inspiring. Mr. Clark was a basketball coach."
"The hardest thing is the iSchool. I can't really teach myself on my own. It was a struggle for me," she said, but said the teachers are always there for her to help her through.
Clark said the first year at PRMBA, a new conversion charter school at Pea Ridge, has been successful and provides opportunities for students of many different levels, capabilities and interests.
Community on 06/03/2015