When students speak, the education world must stop and listen. Welcome to the “Students Speak” series on Future of School: The Podcast, presented in partnership with National School Choice Week.

Sahil Pontula, a Physics major at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), is today’s guest. Sahil speaks with Amy Valentine, Future of School’s CEO and Education Evangelist.

Sahil first experienced online learning in middle school. He attended a traditional public school, but became interested in Latin, a class that wasn’t offered in his school, after visiting some archaeological ruins with his family. He was able to take the Latin class online without switching schools and later also took environmental science online, which fulfilled a requirement for high school ahead of time.

After he entered high school, Sahil continued to take some classes online in addition to his in-person learning. His high school has a partnership with the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, a public residential high school that is part of the University of North Carolina system, which gave access to many different courses.

In his senior year the pandemic hit, and his traditional classes also transitioned online. Sahil observed the difference in this “crisis schooling,” when schools weren’t yet prepared to take certain courses online, in contrast with the online courses he’d taken for many years.

Reflecting on his experience in middle and high school, and where he is now, Sahil says, “I’d really be limited in the avenues I’d be exploring now” if he hadn’t had options in his learning. He is a big believer in the in-person interaction of traditional courses, especially with lab classes when it’s particularly valuable to speak with instructors directly, and also expresses the importance of online learning as an option to open up many different pathways.

Subscribe to hear more Students Speak episodes along with upcoming series from Future of School. Follow Future of School on Twitter @futureof_school, follow Amy Valentine @amyvalentine555, and learn more on our website: www.futureof.school

National School Choice Week is a not-for-profit, charitable effort to raise awareness of effective K–12 education options for children. NSCW focuses equally on traditional public schools, public charter schools, public magnet schools, private schools, online schools, and homeschools. Participate in the conversation by following @schoolchoicewk on Twitter and using the hashtag #schoolchoiceweek. Learn more at https://schoolchoiceweek.com