Tomás Calle, an 11th grader from The Columbus School, has taken a different path by choosing an elective that was not on the paper to guide him to a better future.

After he considered every elective, he noticed that none of them fit his path. He has a dream of becoming a rich economist and decided to take action to shape his future when he was finishing 10th grade.

“Most of the students have either, pre-calc or any other class. The normal classes everybody takes. So what I did is I came up with a class, I had to create a curriculum to make goals for each bimester and had to come up with the tools I was gonna use. I had to create a class from 0 and present it to Juan David. So while everybody is in drawing or AP calculus I am studying the Economics Class,” Tomás Calle said.

Tomás got the green light by the High School directives and now, instead of going to any elective, he heads to the library and works by himself beside the High School librarian, Connie González that guides him into the world of books and self-education.

“Life is about taking chances and follow what one believes is right. Tomás took a step into the dark, into somewhere nobody had ever stepped,” González said.

Tomás dared to take the risk and looks forward to becoming a master in his topic by learning all by himself. The question was: If students get this opportunity, would they be wasting their time or would they grow as people?

“If I have the choice of choosing what I want to learn it would be like my own portfolio. So yes, students should be able to choose what they want to learn because this will make school more enjoyable for students and make students do their work with more discipline, effort, and quality,” 11th-grade student, Julian Camacho, said.

What students are not yet able to see, is that there is no need to have a special elective to be able to self educate. All one needs is time and dedication and everyone in their free time has the opportunity to learn and grow.

“It could be a great opportunity for each person just to be worried about himself and educate in another stuff that probably will be something that leads their lives,” González said.

In school, there are very important subjects that are not taught. Such as profound economics, paying taxes, buying a house, paying rent or many other subjects from infinite different topics that may interest people.

“I think that if you are gonna do this and if you are gonna go through the top of creating the course from 0. You really do have to feel a passion for what you are learning because otherwise, it would just be a waste of time,” Calle said.