Photo by Machelle Tran

Melissa DePeaza

 Melissa DePeaza is a 16-year-old senior at Faith Academy. At Faith Academy, she does half the schoolwork at home and the rest at school. When asked how she felt about this alternate schooling style, she said, “I don’t really get the social aspect that most kids get from going to public school, but it doesn’t really matter to me anymore. I just want to graduate.”

Melissa lives with both her parents, and is the oldest among her three brothers and one sister. They also have a cat and a dog. In school, Melissa enjoys Spanish and English. After she graduates, Melissa hopes to attend the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) and major in multimedia. But she’s a little worried about financial aid.

“I’m hoping I can get a scholarship,” she says, “I have a friend who went last year but isn’t going back next year because she didn’t really have the money for it.”

For fun, Melissa says she likes to download music, talk to friends, watch movies and play videogames. She exercises her multimedia skills by doing photography and Web design.

Her dreams and goals are to be multilingual and well-traveled. Particular places that she wants to go to are Japan and Israel. But before she can do that, she has just one short- term goal to get out the way.

“My main goal right now is to finish high school,” she said with an exasperated sigh. “I just want to graduate!”