Local Ballet Dancer Featured in National Campaign
LINDSEY TATUM: A talented classical ballet dancer with the elite Tulsa Ballet II Company.
Lindsey Tatum, all of 18, is a talented classical ballet dancer with the elite Tulsa Ballet II Company. She went through high school with very high grades, earned a fistful of academic awards, and was recently named a Commended Student by the National Merit Scholarship Program. Now she’s headed for the University of Tulsa, where she plans to major in psychology. Lindsey, a native of Lumerton, Texas, is a proud graduate of Keystone National High School and is now being featured in a national advertising campaign for the accredited, innovative high school that offers home education programs and flexibility to its more than 20,000 students.
Lindsey’s commitment to dancing along with her outstanding academic performance made the folks at Keystone take notice. Of the 200,000 students who have been educated through Keystone, and the 20,000 currently enrolled, Lindsey was just one of five selected for this new campaign.
In the campaign, the five students are featured in individual short video clips posted on the Keystone website. In Lindsey’s clip, she describes her life as a dancer and explains how Keystone enabled her to pursue that dream without sacrificing her academic goals. Lindsey’s and the rest of the student’s videos can be viewed at: www.keystonehighschool.com.
As she explains in her video, Lindsey and her parents were looking for flexibility when they discovered Keystone.
“Last year I was a trainee (in Tulsa) with the professional company, but the schedule did not allow me to go to traditional high school,” Lindsey said. “I was dancing all day and the only way I could finish my high school was through Keystone.”
Like so many Keystone students, Lindsey thrived when the school helped meet her need for a high quality and flexible high school education. She’s a driven dancer who has been studying ballet since she was two years old. Yet she understood the importance of a good education; there was no question that she would be attending college.
“Academics are really big in my family,” she explains. “My mom and dad are both chemical engineers. I’m a ballet dancer first and foremost. But I also know that it’s important to have a good educational background because if I get injured or retire early I need to have the education to enable me to go into another field.”
Keystone allowed Lindsey the freedom to pursue both of her goals.
“It worked wonderfully for me,” she says. “I was able to create my own schedule and fit academics around my dancing. I’ve earned academic scholarships and I was given all kinds of awards for academics in just the two years I was with Keystone.
“Keystone can produce students that really are of a high caliber. I think that some people look at a self-paced school as a way to get out of working hard, but it’s really not. It’s an untraditional way to accommodate individual needs.”
Being able to study and achieve at her own pace meant she could set aside her studies when she needed to, travel to ballet workshops and audition for professional ballet companies. And when she returned, she could pick up right where she left off. Best of all, she notes, was that “the courses still taught the same information you get in public school.”
Lindsey’s parents, Beth and Randy Tatum, were especially pleased with Keystone’s curriculum and the instruction. “We wanted her to take challenging courses that would position her for whatever she wanted to do in the workforce,” says Beth. “She did find those courses at Keystone – her senior English class was particularly challenging and now she’s well positioned to go into freshman English at any university. And she had great interaction with her teachers. Any time she had a problem, a call or email worked it out.”
Both Beth and Randy credit Keystone’s “untraditional way” for helping their daughter develop into the successful and promising young woman she is today.
“I think at first you are apprehensive,” says Randy. “You expect your children to grow up like you did, with prom and other high school experiences. But Keystone opened up other avenues that are more important for her. It afforded her opportunities she wouldn’t have had. We were happy with her experience there.”
Keystone National High School is a fully accredited, independent study program, serving students from grades 9-12. During its 30+ years, they have worked with over 200,000 students from all 50 states and 70 countries. Today, more than 20,000 students are enrolled at Keystone.
To meet the educational needs of all its students, Keystone offers over 60 courses, both online, and through traditional correspondence. Keystone is accredited by the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools, the Distance Education and Training Council, and the National Collegiate Athletic Association, and is licensed by the Pennsylvania Department of Education. Keystone faculty members are certified teachers with an average of seven years of instructional experience. Students can enroll throughout the year for a few credits or in a complete diploma program.
For more information about Keystone National High School, call 800-255-4937 or visit www.keystonehighschool.com.
Updated 11-22-2005
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