By Corrina Taylor
Staff Writer

The hot sun beat down on the recently modified building, the words “Victory Place @ Coppell” shone brightly on the building. A crowd of people dressed in business attire gathered around in front of the structure holding a ribbon that repeatedly said the school’s name.

Victory Place Principal Ron-Marie Johnson held a pair of red oversized scissors in her hands as she cut the ceremonial ribbon, symbolizing the establishment of Victory Place, formerly known as Turning Point.

“The name of the campus changed in June at the board meeting. There wasn’t an official announcement made at that time, and we wanted to wait until school started,” Johnson said. “Today was to officially announce to the community who we are and what we do.”

Before the ribbon cutting, attendees were allowed to walk through the school and see the different classrooms and the way the school was set up. Students at Victory Place were assigned to rooms in order to offer visitors insight or a tour.

Some of the different attendees include Superintendent Dr. Jeff Turner and assistant superintendent Brad Hunt, as well as members of the Coppell Chamber of Commerce. Hunt also played a key role in the name change of the school and its move to the new building.

“We had a community of students, teachers and parents to come up with the new name and we wanted to come up with something positive that would reflect the mission of the campus and be more in line with its new location,” Hunt said.

The school format resembles that of an office building, upon coming through the main entrance there are glass offices where the counselors and principal work. Straight ahead is a café bar with computers accessible to students before classes start; past the café bar is a mini kitchen with a soda machine, fridge and cabinets for students to keep food.

To the right are the restrooms that were shared by everyone in the building, making students feel equal to their teachers and counselors. To the left are classrooms, one for Compass purposes and the others for Victory Place. The classrooms are small and have desks facing the walls with nameplates to dictate the student’s spots, a no nonsense approach to a classroom setting.

The school includes a small counselor meeting room that also doubles as a minor library with one bookshelf covering the back wall with classic teen novels.

Students at Coppell are under the impression that Victory Place is where the students who need discipline go, but this is incorrect. The building that houses Compass, the disciplinary school, is also home to the alternative school Victory Place.

Common misconceptions of the school are that the students who attend the alternative school have the tendency to misbehave. Although there are some special and extreme cases, for the most part, Victory Place students ware in need of an alternate education for specified reasons.

“Everyone came to the school for a specific reason,” junior Pooja Nagrecha said. “You aren’t judged. Everyone has their own reason to be here.”

In some instances the students who attend Victory Place hold a full time job as well as attend school and need a more flexible schedule to ensure they receive their education and still have the time to work. The school day is fitted to each student’s individual needs and in doing so makes it a more independent way of learning.

All of the courses are online through a program, which allows students to work on their assignments at any given time. During the school day, students will be in their assigned classrooms with their Macbooks, provided by the school, and work on whatever course they need. They still receive the same education, just in a different, more user-friendly format.

“They are still Coppell High school students – it just works better that it is on a separate campus because we have two programs,” Johnson said.

In having the online courses, Victory Place is giving its students more freedom in the way they learn their subjects. They can breeze through a course as fast as they can or they can take their time and rewind the lessons and meticulously work through it until they are satisfied.

“You’re going at a faster pace than CHS, but most people feel like they are doing a lot better here than at CHS,” junior Maddie Iniestra. “I think it’s because there is no distractions and very little talking. When it’s time to work it’s time to work.”

The students have plenty of time to interact throughout the day, though they are in a classroom a lot of the time there is still a time for them to communicate called networking. The students would stop after an hour of course work and come together, the teachers would organize something for them to do so that they may interrelate with their peers and get to know everyone.

Though Victory Place differs from the traditional educational system it has proven to be beneficial to some students and has given students a second chance to get the education they need in a way that is fit best for them. The goal is to help change these students lives for the better and they emphasize that through their motto: “You are a genius … and the world is waiting for your contribution!”