Student Spotlight: Jacob Lien of Wolf Point High School

Jacob Lien
Wolf Point High School, Class of 2024

Jacob Lien started studying Spanish in his first year at Wolf Point High School. When that teacher left the district, his counselor, Erin Loendorf, suggested MTDA as a way to continue with Spanish. He discovered that he liked learning in the online environment. “I like working at my own pace, if I don’t understand something, I can do it over and over until I do.”

As it turns out, Jacob likes learning, period. “What you need to know about Jacob is,  this is his thing, he loves going to school and he loves learning,” Loendorf offered. 

The summer before his junior year, he took College Algebra at Fort Peck Community College so that he could take pre-calc his Junior year and calculus his Senior year. Jacob’s Junior year, in addition to that pre-calc course and enrolling in Computer Science, Physics, and AP Macro Economics with MTDA, courses not available at Wolf Point, he’s also taking Anatomy & Physiology with a lab. “I was hesitant with his ambition because we don’t do weighted GPAs here, but he just laughed and assured me ‘it will be fine!’” shared Loendorf.

Jacob extends that same enthusiasm and kindness with his classmates, offering support to students taking the MTDA courses he’s already completed. What makes a student a successful MTDA student? “Being able to get started and manage your time. Don’t slack off and teach yourself how to do it. You learn how to learn,” is Jacob’s advice.

He credits his MTDA experience for improving his own organizational, time management, and communication skills. “It can still feel a little awkward to email your teacher,” Jacob says. But now he is much more thoughtful and thorough in those emails so that he gets the help he needs without extra messages back and forth for clarification.

Jacob is currently ranked at the top of his class with a 4.0. He would like to go to college and study science or math but is still undecided at this point. Although he is clear on this, “the experience I’m getting on MTDA is helping me see my future.”

We couldn’t be more proud!