According to senior and member of Non-Traditional Academy (NTA) Spencer Larson, Non-Traditional Academy aims to adjust school education plans to accommodate student learning needs.

“It’s a class trying to make things possible for students. It stands for Non-Traditional Academy, so they do things a little differently,” Larson said. “They change (education techniques) to follow your pace with how you learn. In normal classes, you have to follow the teachers (but) with NTA, the teachers follow you.”

Director of NTA Chris Weaver said NTA applications will be due after the second week of April.

“Towards the second week of April, we’ll start doing info sessions and have the application process be done by the end of April,” Weaver said. “So if (students) have any questions, (they) can definitely come and ask me.”

Larson said students should join NTA if they are interested in learning topics that can be applied to real-life situations.

“NTA works really hard to make sure to teach us the things we really want to learn. A lot of high school classes teach us a bunch of stupid stuff that we don’t really need to know in life,” Larson said. “(NTA teaches) us about taxes and about if the life we want for ourselves will work out. That’s really important because we’re learning real-world things, instead of trigonometry.”

According to English teacher Andrew Carlson, NTA is great for students who just need a little help when normal classes are not helping them.

“If you are struggling with regular classes but know you want to succeed, the one-on-one attention will benefit you,” Carlson said.

Larson said NTA offers individualized coursework, allowing teachers to prioritize student needs.

“(NTA gives) us each our own little individual education plan because it’s basically for kids who have not really been doing that well throughout high school, and it’s not working the way they’ve been doing it,” Larson said. “In regular classes, teachers have all these students and they’re all focusing on each group of students, but in NTA you’re more of an individual working with your individual teacher.”

According to Weaver, the application process is mainly through staff recommendations, but students can talk to Weaver directly if they are not referred.

“I’ll get a bunch of referrals, that’s usually how we run it. People get referred by staff members because I don’t know everybody and where people are,” Weaver said. “Sometimes there are people who don’t get on that list for whatever reason, so if you have any questions you can definitely come and ask me.”

For more information about applying for NTA, talk to Chris Weaver in room A202B.