Senna El Bakri, a Coon Rapids resident, enrolled in the Minnesota Center of Online Learning (MCoOL), a public, online middle and high school program open to Minnesota students in grades seven-12. Since she enrolled in the online program two years ago she has seen an improvement in her grades and self-esteem. Photo by Jennifer Kivioja

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Staff writer

Senna El Bakri, 17, was struggling in school. So, her mother started to home school her. For a while that was fine, but El Bakri said it “just wasn’t something that I wanted, I’m a social person and I needed something else.”

For her an alternative option was to enroll in an online school.

El Bakri, a Coon Rapids resident, enrolled in the Minnesota Center of Online Learning (MCoOL), a public, online middle and high school program open to Minnesota students in grades seven-12.

Since she enrolled in the program in 2006 she has seen a drastic improvement not only in her grades but in her self-esteem.

“I was never an ‘A’ student. I just went through the day. Once I started at MCoOL I started to care about my school work,” El Bakri said.

An example of her improvement has been in math. Before attending MCoOL she said she would get 50 percent on math tests  and now it’s not uncommon for her to get 80 or 90 percent.

“Now that I am able to do a good job it makes me feel capable that I can do more,” El Bakri said.

So much so that she has been accepted as a PSEO (Post-Secondary Enrollment Option) student to attend the University of Minnesota during her senior year.

“I want to learn and do good in school,” El Bakri said.

Steve Kerska, director of secondary operations at MCoOL, said that this program was started six years and is one of 19 online schools in the state.

The program offers 100 different courses and students enroll in both core courses (i.e. English, math, science and social studies) and elective courses, he said.

According to Kerska, there are two groups of students who are registering for MCoOL - those who have not found success in their school or those who are not challenged enough.

MCoOL is similar to public schools in that it offers core classes and electives, follows Minnesota Department of Education guidelines and has certified teachers, Kerska said.

But the differences are that classes are done online, each student dictates the pace of the class and the curriculum for each student is customized.

Because the courses are offered online students can take more time to learn subjects, especially if they are struggling, and excel as a result.

“It’s a demanding curriculum and the students have to be self-motivated, self-disciplined and willing to ask questions,” Kerska said.

“For example a student sitting in a classroom can start daydreaming and miss what was happening. But when taking a class online things don’t happen until the student engages things to move forward.”

Because of the ideology of the online courses, El Bakri has found success.

El Barki, who once attended private schools, is now attending Coon Rapids High School for two classes, then takes the rest of her courses online.

“It’s flexible and there are no distractions or other people around you,” El Bakri said. “MCoOL gives me the opportunity to go at my own pace.”

El Bakri is unique in the online program in that she is still attending a school.

But for her this works. At the high school she gets to interact with her peers and is involved in extracurricular activities, she said.

At the high school, she also takes classes that are more hands on like chemistry, biology and public speaking, El Bakri said.

And the online courses are working for El Bakri. “For whatever reason math makes more sense to me online than it did sitting in a classroom,” she said

“I’m not sure why, but it just makes more sense learning and seeing the problems on the computer.”

Since El Bakri started attending online courses she said that it has changed how she feels about school.

“It’s kind of a balance for me,” she said. “I like being in the classroom and around people in the high school, but I also like having more time to do my work in the online classes and have the time to work on my assignments.”

Her mother, Adrianna Sutherland, said that the high school has been wonderful working with them to help get El Bakri registered for the right classes.

“I have seen such a huge improvement in her self- esteem and her grades have improved so much,” said Sutherland.

Even though classes are offered online, MCoOL students meet with teachers in weekly online “classroom” sessions.

Students can also contact their teachers via e-mail or phone anytime they have questions on their homework.

For more information about the MCoOL’s online program visit www.mcool.org, call 1-877-984-7587 or e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Jennifer Kivioja is at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it