Northwest Academy Student To Withdraw, Explore Her Creative Side

Marisol Ceballos, a sophomore at Northwest Academy, is withdrawing from Northwest Academy to explore her creative side and to begin voicing her political and social beliefs. She plans to reapply to Northwest Academy as a junior for the 2016-17 school year.

“As an artist, it is almost impossible for me to think of doing one thing my entire life, or only having the education to do a couple of things,” Ceballos said. “If I took a gap year before college, I would need to have a clear idea of which schools I would apply to during that year.”

Ceballos decided to make this unconventional move because she wishes to go straight from high school to college, utilizing the help of Northwest Academy’s Registrar and College Counselor, Julia Cain.

“When I noticed re-enrollment on the board in the commons, it hit me in a funny kind of way,” Ceballos said. “It made complete sense to me; here was something that would allow me time to figure out my own problems, but I didn’t think I would ever do it.”

Ceballos will be the first student at Northwest Academy to withdraw and take a year of absence before finishing high school.

“No one has ever done it,” David Wagstaff, the Dean of Students, said. “We have had students that took whole semesters off to go on treks, we have had people who left to go to school in another country, but never anything like this.”

Once the idea was sprouted in Ceballos’ head, she said she could not let go of it.

“I had to make the decision on my own, as many adults did not want to even entertain my idea,” Ceballos said. “I made the final decision by myself a couple months ago.”

Ceballos said that when she proposed her vision to others, teenagers appreciated the idea whereas adults tended to assume she was “dropping out.” Now that Ceballos has begun to plan the upcoming years, it is clear that she is not dropping out.

“I am searching for work,” Ceballos said. “I have auditioned all over town (for theater) in the past couple months. I also have an interest in working at a plant nursery. I am using this year to create and to realize myself as an advocate for social change.”

As an artist, Ceballos plans to finish past projects and create new art and ideas during her gap year. She also intends to write multiple essays to publish online regarding her social and political views as an entrance into the socialist movement.

“I was raised by a social worker, and a member of many labor and civil rights movements,” Ceballos said. “I want to realize myself as a member of this community, and by doing it now, as a teen, I can plant the bug in people’s ears when they are my age, paving the road for later change.”

The only complication with Ceballos’ plan, besides trying to fit as much as she possibly can in to one year, is re-enrollment. Wagstaff said that Northwest Academy will certainly welcome Ceballos back, but that they cannot reserve a spot for her.

Although re-enrolling into high school could be problematic, Cain said that taking a year off like Ceballos should not help or hurt a student when it comes to getting into college.

“There’s a place on all college applications for education interruption and so that is where you would address it,” Cain said. “It is not uncommon, if it was uncommon they wouldn’t have a place for it on their applications.”

Ceballos has her own political and social beliefs, but feels that she may just be “talking the talk,” rather than actually becoming integrated in the socialist movement.

“There are many people who come out of college as green as the day they were born, not knowing a thing about the world, believing every fact they are taught and embracing (them) without question, a way of living which was taught to them at a young age,” Ceballos said.

For Ceballos, the chance to learn and create products of her own interest outweighs any cons regarding her taking a year away from traditional school.

“I feel extremely out of place in this world, especially in the community I am in,” Ceballos said. “I do not believe in the rigorous time frames which this society values; I believe that one cannot learn along the way if there is so much pressure to turn out a finished project by an early date.”