WVVA Senior Xander Builds His Future Through K12 Zone Externship

For West Virginia Virtual Academy senior Xander, his final year of high school has been more than preparing for graduation. It has been a year of growth, and real-world experience through an externship in the K12 Zone. 

The K12 Zone is an interactive virtual campus that helps bring online school to life. Students can connect with classmates, participate in clubs and activities, and access learning resources in a safe and welcoming online environment. 

WVVA’s Career and Technical Education Coordinator, Jeremy Greene, invited Xander to participate in the new externship program after recognizing his experience with computers and his interest in programming. 

“Mr. Greene recommended this program to me,” Xander said. “He had used the K-12 Zone before and thought it would be something I would like.”  

During the externship, Xander has been working on a project called the tour guide, a tool designed to help teachers and others in the K12 Zone create interactive tours for students. 

“The tour guide allows teachers or people in the K12 Zone to build these tours where students can go through, select different dialogue options, and the character will speak back to them,” Xander explained. “After it goes through the dialogue, it will award the person a badge for completing that specific tour.” 

The project is still in development, but Xander says it is close to completion. 

“I’m still going to finalize it and I’m working with people to test it, but it’s very close to being done,” he said. 

Just by speaking with Xander, you can see his passion for the project. Programming is something he has been interested in since he was just 9 years old. 

“I played a lot of very tedious video games, and thought, ‘What would be better than me playing them? If my computer could play them,” he said.  

That curiosity eventually grew into a skill set that helped him take on a meaningful role in the K12 Zone externship. The project also led Xander to learn new technical and communication skills.  

“I’m somebody who works in the back end of stuff, which is servers and whatnot, Xander explained. “I had to learn stuff on the front end, like how to integrate what marketing we would want and what I want with my code. I also learned more relationship skills like how to work with other people and get what they want done within what I can do.”  

The externship gave Xander a chance to use his strengths in a new way. When he first joined the project, he was originally expected to help build images in the K12 Zone, something that didn’t quite get his gears turning.  

“What I was originally meant to do was build images in the zone, Xander said. “But I’m really bad at art. Like really, really bad. I can’t draw a stickman well.”  

Xander’s instructors quickly helped him adapt and find a way to apply his coding knowledge in a useful way. 

“Somebody mentioned that the K12 Zone has an API, or an Application Portal Interface,” Xander said, “That made my head perk up. This is something I know and can work with, so I’m going to use my skills to do what I can.” 

One thing led to another and what started with Xander coding images, led to programming the K12 Zone tour guide.  

Preparing for the Future 

For Xander, the externship has been one more example of how WVVA helped him discover new opportunities and clarify what he wants to do after graduation. 

“I’m planning on going to WVU for a year because I want a little bit of a normal school experience,” Xander said. “I also got into the honors college there. After that I’m planning on going into the Air Force Academy and then the Air Force as an officer in navigations communications.”  

Xander credits one of his WVVA teachers, Anita Workman, with helping him explore how his interests in programming and technology could connect to his future. 

“My dad was in the Air Force, and my mom was in the Marine Corps, so I thought this might be something I wanted to do,” Xander said. “Ms. Workman really inspired me and gave me a lot of the resources and experiences to develop that idea more.” 

As he prepares to graduate, Xander says he is feeling both nervous and excited about what comes next. 

“I’m a little bit nervous going into college, but all in all, I’m glad to graduate, and do the things I’ve wanted,” Xander said. “There’s a lot ahead, but I think I can handle it.” 

When asked what he will miss most about WVVA, Xander’s answer is simple.  

“The people and the teachers,” he said, “I like my teachers a lot, just like I love people a lot. They’re one of my top things.” 

As Xander looks ahead to college, the Air Force Academy, and a future in technology and communications, he is leaving WVVA with new skills, stronger confidence, and a better understanding of what he wants to pursue. 

His advice to other students is to keep going, even when they run into limits. 

“Don’t get discouraged by the limitations that are there,” he said. “Use what you know to push past that and then build upon it.” 

Through his senior-year externship in the K12 Zone, Xander has not only contributed to a project that will support other students, but he has also taken another step toward the future he is building for himself.  

To learn more about student experiences at West Virginia Virtual Academy visit https://wvva.k12.com/academics/

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