My name is Evelyn Potter and I am a senior at Freestyle academy where I take my design, english, digital media, and film classes. My favorite things to do are being around my friends, taking pictures, filming and editing things, and adventuring.  I am a senior at Mountain View High School, and I plan to go to a four year college to study criminology, and hopefully afterwards go to law school. I started Freestyle Academy my junior year, and it was definitely the best decision I could’ve made. My first two years of high school I disliked because I was bored of the same classes every day, I wanted something different. I had always been interested in photography, film, and art in general so my mom thought I should do this program. Through Freestyle, I have made some of my closest friends and met my favorite teachers. I love how this program is very self directed, and we get to produce anything we put our mind to. Although it is a lot of work and extra time, Freestyle is my favorite part about school. Last year was the documentary project, and through this project I uncovered my passion for criminology and law. For this project, the assignment was to find a research topic and create a film, in addition to writing and designing our own book. Because the justice system had failed my dad and ultimately caused his death, the topic I chose was how the justice system in America is flawed, and fails to fulfill its purpose of successfully rehabilitating people within the system. To gain more insight into the system and its flaws, I interviewed people who have experienced it first hand. Additionally, I researched mental health, inequity, and recidivism within the system. Although I had to finish months of work in just two weeks, I made time at lunch, breaks, and after school. The project became my priority. I was so intrigued by my research that most nights I  worked at school so late that my teacher had to kick me out. What was most interesting was discovering other people’s stories about how the justice system had failed them. I realized that criminology and law is the path I want to study in the future, along with taking film classes because that is a huge passion of mine. I value so many things about Freestyle, mainly how it is such a close community and I have made my best friends here. Also I value the dedication all of the teachers have to their classes and how many hours they are all willing to spend after school gets out. Another thing I value is how the projects for the most part are very open ended and if you have the dedication and passion, you can create anything you want and will be really proud of. Freestyle Academy is definitely the highlight of my high school years and I am thankful for the friends, passion, great teachers, and projects it has brought me.