Page 6 Having had a challenging life, Joan has always remained positive but deep down felt disappointed that she was not permitted to finish high school in England like her younger sister did. Instead, Deebank was taken out of school at the age of 13, before finishing Grade 8, to help support her family by working in domestic services. Having not completed her schooling, Deebank would carry a dictionary with her at all times because she sometimes did not know what certain words meant. At the age of 16, Deebank was enlisted in the Army, like many of her country-mates. She lived in England during World War II and served in many capacities, supporting the military. Knowing that her mother always wished she would have went on to high school, Lightfoot, found a way for her daughter to complete her high school education through a distributed learning program at Island ConnectEd. Island ConnectEd allows students of all ages the opportunity to study and complete coursework at home or while travelling. It is a distributed learning school that provides a flexible learning environment for students to learn from anywhere, anytime. The school can enrol students who travel, learn from home, are adult-age, cross-enrolled with other schools and for those who wish to learn on-site in a self-paced setting. Deebank loves to learn about anything and everything. She has many favourite subjects including History, Biology, Textiles & Art, Health & Wellbeing and Literature. She also loves reading books and poems. Island ConnectEd Principal Patrick Young said, “Deebank has been a lifelong learner. We have taken her interests such as Science or Archaeology and use it towards English for example. The coursework is self-paced and personalized.” Deebank especially enjoys reading about the black holes in outer space. In fact she said, “I’ve never gotten to the bottom of it yet. How can there be black holes up there? I think there is another world up there. I don’t think we are the only world.” Along with the support and mentorship from her daughter, Lightfoot, her main teacher is Kim Pepler. Pepler often travels to Deebank’s home to assist with her coursework and answer any questions she might have. “Deebank is an inspiring person. I greatly admire her grit and perseverance in this challenging enterprise of graduating from high school. Her efforts show that it is never too late to follow your dreams and that you should make those dreams BIG! “ said Pepler.