Student Spotlight: Karly Alder of Charlo High School
Karly Alder
Charlo High School, Class of 2024
Karly’s introduction to MTDA was with Middle School French. This was several years ago, in 2017, before COVID-19, so the online learning environment was entirely new to her. However, she quickly learned the benefits of having the MTDA option. She continued with language classes through MTDA in high school, switching to Spanish. She has big goals for going to college, so wanted to meet the foreign language requirement many schools are looking for.
As a junior, she took the Dual Credit College Writing Course in the fall and Digital Photography in the spring. She admits the writing course was tough but “I’m so glad I took it, my writing skills really improved.”
“I love our small town school, I really do, but our opportunities are really limited, they don’t offer AP or honors courses, MTDA has been such a big help getting me started on that stuff, expanding my knowledge and horizons and I’ve been so grateful for the opportunity to get a jumpstart on college and figure out what interests me,” said Alder.
Steve Love, the Superintendent at Charlo High School, credits Karly’s success to being a self-starter with a wonderful attitude. “She’s one of those kids every teacher wants in their class, one of those kids you don’t mind having on an overnight class trip!” And it’s more than just the good grades (all A’s in MTDA courses to date), Love reports that she’s humble, helps other students, and has a great sense of humor. “She never complains about the work, even when her classmates may. Other students notice that,” says Love.
Her biggest surprise when taking that first MTDA course online was how “it’s all up to you,” said Alder, “to succeed you have to be organized and keep track.” She credits those learned organizational skills for helping her in other areas of her life as well, balancing classes, sports, and other extracurriculars.
Alder plays volleyball, runs track, is a member of National Honor Society and student council, and is active with Future Health Professionals (HOSA)– they just medaled at state, and she is off to Business Professionals Association (BPA) nationals next month.
“She (Karly) gets involved and stays involved, you can always count on her,” boasts Love.
Charlo High School gets Karly for one more year before she is off to college. She doesn’t know where yet but she would like to ultimately go into the medical field. In the meantime, she leaves her classmates this piece of advice:
“Don’t be afraid to take a class that you don’t know. Get out of your comfort zone, it really is exciting to try something that is completely new or try something hard,” shares Alder, “find what’s out there.”