William Barnhart, from Weedville, PA, enrolled at PA Distance when he was in 8th grade. He turned 17 on graduation day, this past Saturday, and graduated an entire year early alongside the PA Distance class of 2020 — as their Valedictorian.

 

As an ambitious student, William took his success and determination a step further when he inquired about taking more classes. “I reached out to my counselor, Mrs. Mihoerck, to see if it were possible to get ahead,” he said. At the beginning of his sophomore year, with Mrs. Mihoerck’s help, William crafted a plan to take on a larger class load to graduate early.

“William was a dedicated and focused student since he started with PA Distance. William maintained the honor roll and graduated from high school in just three years!” PA Distance school counselor, Mrs. Mihoerck, explained.

When he began school, it was apparent to William that the teachers were among the best parts of the school. “When I enrolled, it was clear that all of the teachers enjoyed their jobs,” he explained. “I also liked that I could pick my classes, based on my interests. It was customizable.”

William became interested in blacksmithing - creating objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut the materials into different shapes - at the age of 13. For the past four years, he has been running his own blacksmithing business, WB Blacksmithing, after school and during the summer. “I have customers from at least 33 states and six countries,” he explained. “I sell a lot of my hand-crafted items on social media, mostly on Instagram, and also on eBay.”

He creates all of his merchandise out of his workshop in his backyard. As a self-taught blacksmith, William takes pride in the success of his business and looks forward to taking it on, full-time, now that he’s graduated from PA Distance.

Although William’s blacksmithing is self-taught, he still had a few things to learn about running his own small business. With the help of teachers at PA Distance, he gained relevant knowledge to aid his business.

“There was a lot of trial and error in the first few years,” he explained. “I have been growing my business in the past few years using some of the things I’ve learned in school,” he said.

“I took consumer math, economics, and the financial literacy classes that have helped me with my business,” he said. “Some of these classes taught me the important vocabulary and helped me learn how to think like a business person.”

“I also learned how to make my website in computer science and took photography to learn how to photograph and market my products on the site,” he said. “I sell a lot of custom items.”

William also noted that math class, specifically trigonometry, aided in his blacksmithing trade, too. As a branch of mathematics that studies relationships between side lengths and angles of triangles, Trigonometry principals help William create his one-of-a-kind pieces.

After completing his entire high school career at PA Distance, William looks back at his time with his teachers fondly but looks forward to his bright future as a business owner. “Now that I’ve graduated, I will continue running WB Blacksmithing and am excited to see it grow,” he added.

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About PA Distance Learning Charter School

Since 2004, PA Distance has been providing a welcoming virtual learning environment for students in grades K-12 across Pennsylvania. Students at PA Distance engage in a blended environment that combines “synchronous” and “asynchronous” learning. PA Distance’s mission is to blend proven classroom teaching techniques with educational technologies to promote academic growth for all students.