Daniella Ventrone

Name: Daniella Ventrone

Home: Anthem, AZ

School: Pinnacle Online High School

Ever since Daniella Ventrone was a child, she was in love with Fashion. Most of her childhood was spent at the mall. Even if she didn’t have any money, Daniella would still trek to the nearest shopping center and stare and admire all of the different types of clothes. And on the off chance she couldn’t make it to the mall, she could be found playing dress-up with her younger sister.

As Daniella grew up, her passion for fashion seemed only to grow with her. It didn’t take long before she realized that she wanted to pursue her love of fashion as a career. And her first step in achieving a career in fashion was getting into the prestigious Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising.

But before she could get into FIDM, she needed to get good grades and perform well in high school. While she was doing an adequate job at her traditional high school, Daniella and her family thought she could perform better in her classes if she was in a different environment.

So after some deliberation, Daniella’s parents decided to enroll her in online classeswith Pinnacle for her junior year.

“It was a blessing in disguise,” said Viviana Ventrone, Daniella’s mother. “I am glad we decided to enroll Daniella in Pinnacle."

While Viviana was glad she enrolled her daughter in online classes, the idea of going to school online wasn’t met without hesitation.

“Going to school online was such a foreign idea to us,” she explained from her Anthem home. “The [traditional] high school wasn’t a good experience for her, so we had to look at other options. And we chose Pinnacle.”

Since the Ventrone family lives in Anthem, AZ, it would have been hard to find another private school in such a rural area. With Pinnacle’s online classes, Daniella was able to get a quality high school education from her own home.

As soon as she started her first online class, Daniella noticed a difference in her school work. Sometimes the large class sizes in her old high school were a little intimidating to her, so it was difficult to ask questions and get help. It didn’t take long for her to realize that this wasn’t the case at Pinnacle.

“Whenever I had a question, all I had to do was email or call my teacher,” Daniella said with a smile. “They [the teachers] were always really nice and helped me out a lot.”

Apart from the academic improvement, Viviana also saw an improvement in her overall attitude.

“She just seems so much happier,” said Viviana. “She’s at home, can work on her classes whenever she wants, and still be around her friends.”

Daniella worked on her classes in two, three-hour blocks; one in the morning and evening. The flexible schedule allowed her complete her school work while still having time for social and extracurricular activities with friends. Even though Daniella took her classes online, both Daniella and her mom believe she didn’t miss anything that traditional schools had to offer. In some cases, Viviana said she believed Daniella learned and experienced more in the online classes than in a traditional high school classroom.

After two years of taking online classes, Daniella finally completed all of her classes and is graduating from Pinnacle in the spring of 2010. Because of her determination and hard work, Daniella even accomplished her first step towards her fashion career, getting accepted to FIDM.

“When I answered the phone, I was in shock,” she said about receiving her acceptance call. “I can’t wait to get started.”

After college, Daniella hopes to work in the fashion industry as a designer or with a magazine. Who knows, maybe in a few years when she goes to the mall, she’ll be selling her own line of clothes instead of buying them.