Entries by Ben Drahmann

Visions In Education Starts Our 26th Year Serving 7,769 Students!

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Collage of Visions Students with 7,769 in yellow text in front

Visions In Education Starts Our 26th Year Serving 7,769 Students!

Visions In Education has set another record year for enrollment, starting our first day with 7,769 students enrolled! This is 310 more students than we had last year and continues our positive trend of thoughtful growth in our service area.  


Bar graph of enrollment data 2018-2025
Visions In Education Enrollment Trends since 2017

Growing Steadily to Support Students

Demand for our services continues to be high, evidenced by a strong first day and a waitlist of over 1,000 students that we’ve maintained for much of 2025. While we are eager to enroll every student that wants to learn with us, we are also committed to doing the best we can for the students we currently serve before taking on new students. 

Our mission of supporting student success has led to declining withdrawal rates for the fifth year in a row as we build out new programs and enhance our existing programs. These enhancements include making our new Online Middle School program a full academy, providing more support for our Credit Recovery Independent Study program, continuing to offer events and clubs and bringing on more multilingual instructional assistants to support our teachers and students. These small improvements have added up over the years, leading to our third year of record enrollment in a row. 

Thank you to our families for continuing to put their trust in Visions as a school and thank you to our hardworking staff for making Visions a school our families are excited to choose.

Visions In Education Hosts Community Leaders and Legislative Representatives

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Group photo of Visions leadership and legislators

Visions In Education Hosts Community Leaders and Legislative Representatives

On the heels of a successful unanimous five-year charter renewal, Visions In Education hosted an open house for policymakers on January 22nd to continue the conversation about the role high-quality nonclassroom-based charter schools play in public education. Representatives and staffers from both the State Senate and State Assembly and educational partners from our community turned out to hear more about how charter schools can meet the diverse needs of California students while being accountable to families and taxpayers. This meeting builds on the legislative outreach and bill sponsorship Visions worked on last year as we continue into the next legislative session, which will likely focus on charter school quality and accountability. 

“I am grateful for the opportunity to have fruitful conversations about the realities of nonclassroom-based charters,” says Superintendent Olmos. “There are still a lot of misconceptions about what charter schools—specifically nonclassroom-based charter schools—are and how we serve our students. We strive to be an exemplary member of the public school community and are relentlessly focused on meeting the needs of our students and being accountable to taxpayers. As one of California’s largest and oldest charter schools, we are eager to be a resource for policymakers as they consider critical updates to charter school policies.” 

“This is a great opportunity for us to share all the great things we’re doing at Visions with the broader community,” said Chief Operations Officer Tafoya. “We’re growing and serving a more diverse community with challenging backgrounds; that is worth celebrating.” 

“Today’s visit provided a wonderful opportunity to highlight the hard work of our teachers and students, who made a positive impression on all of our visitors,” said Chief Academic Officer Micah Studer. “We sincerely appreciate everyone who contributed to the event, with special thanks to Betty Brady and Georgina Rios for their efforts in creating a welcoming environment for our guests. We’re grateful for the opportunity to demonstrate why it’s ‘Good to be Visions.’”

Guests were hosted by Superintendent Steve Olmos, Chief Academic Officer Micah Studer, Chief Operations Officer Tom Tafoya, Board Chairperson Mark Holman, and other Instructional Leaders at our Carmichael office. They enjoyed a brief presentation before getting the opportunity to sit in on a few virtual classrooms to see our teachers and students in action. A special thank you to Patrice Boyan, Sarah Short, Katie Kearns, Christina McKinnis, Julie Winalski, Monique Maher, Lesley Storz, and Nancy Ortner, who volunteered to represent Visions In Education. 

Visions leaders presenting to other leaders and legislators

Visions leaders shaking hands with legislators

Visions CAO speaking with legislators

Building Bridges

Visions In Education would like to thank all attendees who came to our office to learn more about charter schools and the value Visions brings to our communities! 

Special thanks go to Adelyn Fowler (Office of Senator Roger Niello), Andrea Durham (Executive Director – MOSAC), Brian White (KP Public Affairs), Erik Premack (Charter Schools Development Center (CSDC), Heidi Hannaman (Senior Policy Analyst – Office of Senator Roger Niello), Julia Hayes (Senate Fellow – Office of Senator Tom Umberg), Kirk Kimmelshue (Fernández Jensen Kimmelshue Government Affairs), Lane Gonick (Field Representative – Assemblyman Josh Hoover), Lorena Moya (District Director – Assemblymember Maggy Krell), Sergey Terebkov (Director of School, Parent and Governmental Relations, Gateway Community Charters), and Nathaniel Mendoza (Field Representative – Assemblymember Maggy Krell).

Visions was grateful for the opportunity to share our work, and we look forward to future dialogue opportunities as we head into the legislative season. 

25 Years of Service: Read Our Impact Report

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Collage of Visions students for Digital Impact Report

25 Years of Service: Read Our Impact Report


Read Our Impact Report Here! button

Visions In Education has been serving students for a quarter of a century. In that time, almost everything about the way we’ve educated students has changed, from the challenges students face to the landscape of charter schools in California. 

To celebrate 25 years of successful service, our Marketing & Communications Team spent a year interviewing Visions leadership and looking back through our history to produce a digital impact report highlighting Visions’ history and the strides we’ve made to serve Northern California’s students. 

This page is a one-stop location for anyone curious about Visions’ history, containing stories from Visions’ past, some interesting data about how our school has changed over the years, videos detailing Visions’ past, and a conversation with Visions’ leadership about where they see our school going in the future. As Visions goes into its next 25 years of service, we hope this document will serve as a touchstone and resource for students and staff to remember how far we’ve come. 

See this Video to Learn More About Visions’ History

Thank You!

A big thank you to everyone who participated in this project! This was a massive undertaking and would not have been possible without the insight and experience of the following Visionaries. 

  • The Marketing & Communication Services Team: Ben Drahmann, Ellie Fazzi, Ronaldo Gomez, & Justina Janas. 
  • Special Contributors: Dr. Steve Olmos (Superintendent/Executive Director), Tom Tafoya (Chief Operations Officer), Mark Holman (Board of Directors Chairperson), Dr. Micah Studer (Chief Academic Officer), Michael Brubaker (Senior Director of Operations), Uriel Gonzalez (Director of Technology), Tania Houchin (Associate Director of Business Systems and Support), Sarah McFarland (Director of Instruction: Independent Study and University Prep), Christina McKinnis (Principal: University Prep Early College Academy), Donna Glenn (Director of Human Resources), and Betty Brady (Assistant to the Superintendent’s Office)

Celebrating Our School: A 2023-2024 Year in Review

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Celebrating Our School: A 2023-2024 Year in Review

Visions serves more than 7,000 students and each one of them has a story to share. This past year, our communications team told more stories than ever, spotlighting students, staff members, and departments to help paint a picture of our school. We published a lot of material this year so if you missed any, now’s your time to catch up! 

Student Videos – Our School In Motion

Student and Graduate Spotlights – Shining a Light on Our Visionaries

Board Spotlights – Meet Our Board Members

Staff Spotlights – The Team That Makes Everything Work

Department Spotlights – Learn How a Charter School Operates

Student Spotlight: Manicure Artist Nails Learning Her Way

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Visions student smiling holding flowers

Student Spotlight: Manicure Artist Nails Learning Her Way

Like many students, Lauretta K. felt constrained by traditional schooling. She wanted a flexible school choice that would allow her to pursue her passions and focus on what mattered most to her. As someone who’s interested in nail-technology, having a school that allowed her to study what she wanted was a big plus.

“I decided to come to Visions because I wanted a more flexible schedule,” Lauretta says.

At Visions, she connected with teacher Ashley Brantley to start learning at her own pace. With aims of becoming a nail technician after graduation, Lauretta decided to create her own class in the form of a Directed Project, a special class available to allow students to explore their interests and inspire new learning.

“My directed project is about nails and it motivated me to start my nail business,” says Lauretta. “I planned out my directed project by creating goals for myself and making an Instagram page that I wanted to post regularly on.”

As part of the Directed Project, Lauretta began expanding her craft, learned how to market herself, and learned the ins and outs of how to run a successful business. She says that her experiences with her Directed Project have inspired her to pursue a future as a licensed nail technician and manicurist; an ambition she thanks her teacher for supporting.

“She was really supportive and always had positive feedback that encouraged me,” says Lauretta. “I grew a lot as a person in Visions. I was able to get to know myself more and focus on self-discipline.”

Looking back, she is glad she had the opportunity to get a jumpstart on her career of choice as a high school student. Though graduation is on the horizon, Lauretta is on to bigger and better things, something she is thankful to the helpful staff and teachers she interacted with.

“I would like to say a huge thank you to all the Visions staff who work hard to make this a great school and amazing experience!”

Nail pictures courtesy of Lauretta K. Follow Lauretta at @nailsbyetta on Instagram!






Grad Spotlight: Miss Ukraine California Takes a Stand

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Picture of Daria Avtukh

Grad Spotlight: Miss Ukraine California Takes a Stand

“Pageants never really interested me,” says Daria Avtukh, winner of the 2023 Miss Ukraine California Pageant. A full time community college student and an early graduate of the Visions In Education Class of 2020, she was at first a little hesitant to participate in the Miss Ukraine California pageant.

“One of the organizers of the pageant reached out to me and said that they got a recommendation from someone to invite me as a possible candidate,” says Daria. “The determinative moment was when my mom (my best friend and biggest supporter) strongly advised me to participate, after I told her about the invitation that I received. I thought that it would be a great opportunity to draw more attention to my country and the current situation there.”

Even as a Visions student, Daria was driven to pursue her personal goals. Looking for a way to graduate high school early and move on to the next phase of her life, Daria came to Visions in 2019 where she found support in her teacher, Julie Szukalski.

“My relationship with my teacher was great and full of mutual respect and support,” says Daria. “I was so lucky to have her as my teacher and I’m immensely grateful for all of her feedback, care, and support that she’s given me throughout my days at Visions. Years after my graduation, we’re still supporting each other in our both little and big life celebrations.”

At Visions, Daria was able to get her high school work done while also balancing her hobbies and work as a dance instructor.

Taking the Stage, Taking a Stand

After graduating Visions in 2020, Daria has attended community college with the intent to transfer to a university in Fall 2023. Since she graduated early, she had plenty of time to pursue her passions like ballroom dance, theater acting, modeling, and more recently championing the Ukrainian cause.

“I never thought that there would be a full-scale war in my homeland,” says Daria. “And that I would have to become an activist in order to help save lives and the culture that’s so important to me.”

Inspired to lend her voice in support of her home, Daria put her name forth for Miss Ukraine California consideration and was part of a panel of twelve competitors that would go on to the final competition. Daria trained for six weeks, refining things like speech and poise, representing Ukraine in a promotional video, while also choreographing and executing solo performances. At the final competition, Daria’s talent, articulation, and poise carried her to the finals and ultimately won her the title of 2023 Miss Ukraine California!

Looking Ahead

Unsurprisingly, winning the competition has only inspired Daria to take on more challenges and risks in the future. When asked if she had any advice for students today, she stressed the importance of remaining open-minded and flexible to continue to meet life’s challenges.

“It’s important to stay true to yourself, while keeping your mind open,” says Daria. “Open for new opportunities, new ways of thinking, different opinions, new skills, and new goals. Your life has a purpose, and figuring out what that purpose is might be a lifelong journey.”

“It has been a great experience being a student at Visions, and I would have enrolled as soon as I discovered them if I had known about them earlier. I was particularly impressed with how welcoming and helpful they were, which was vital to my success as a recent immigrant who was unfamiliar with the American education system. Those of you who are ambitious and self-driven are sure to benefit from enrolling at Visions.”

Visions In Education Appoints Clark Shueh to Board of Directors

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Portrait of Board member Clark Shueh

Visions In Education Appoints Clark Shueh to Board of Directors

At the January 26th Board of Directors Meeting, the Visions In Education Board of Directors was pleased to elect Clark Shueh to join our Board. Clark will be stepping in to fulfill the rest of outgoing Board Member Katie McCleary’s term through June 30, 2024. 

Clark comes from an Information Technology background where he has worked for the past twenty-five years. When he isn’t attending our Board of Directors meetings, Clark works at Intel as the Accelerated Computing Systems & Graphics Group Program Manager, where he leads and coaches an engineering team while also developing curriculum to facilitate staff training. 

His volunteer credentials don’t stop with Visions In Education either; Clark is a current member of the Folsom Lake Symphony Board of Directors, a volunteer project manager at Bayside Church, a Senior Commander in Royal Rangers Folsom Outpost 255, and the lead of Intel’s PC Pals program (a program that connects students with IT professionals in an email based mentorship program). Clark’s PC Pals team has raised $135,000 for partner schools since 2012. 

“I’m excited to be here,” said Clark after the Board of Directors approved his appointment. “I’m here to help, but I’m also here to learn.” 

Visions In Education thanks Clark for his service and looks forward to working with him to make our community of learners a better place. 

Grad Spotlight: Finding a Path Abroad

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High school graduate smiles while studying abroad

Grad Spotlight: Finding a Path Abroad

When Taylor Kawazoe (Class of 2019) first enrolled at Visions In Education, she didn’t know that her education would help lead her to travel halfway around the world.

“My mom wanted to be able to focus on me and my siblings’ individual needs and strengths,” says Taylor. “I had my own curriculum to fit my needs.”

Taylor always knew she wanted to go to college and travel, but didn’t know how she’d get there. However, she was determined to succeed and with the help of her family and her teacher, she was able to get a taste of college while in high school.

“I was able to take community college classes and my mom had me focus on flexibility. I figured out how I work best, utilize resources around me, and keep track of my responsibilities.”

Preparing For College

With time Taylor started developing her interests and applied for college when her plans took a turn.

“I applied to 20 colleges and got to visit some schools… but decided to instead go to community college. If I spent a year there I could get into [a four year university] more easily. ”

The decision paid off, Taylor finished her year at Solano Community College, earning scholarships to transfer to UC Davis. But moving and starting a new school in the middle of the pandemic had its challenges.

“It was definitely a transition starting Davis online in the pandemic.”

Thankfully Taylor was already used to independent learning while at Visions, she had the skills to handle UC Davis’ tight schedule, and move to Davis for her senior year.

“I was a little surprised by how big the campus was, learning how to navigate the campus and get to my classes. We still had to wear masks and do COVID testing.”

Traveling Scholar

Fast forward, Taylor graduated Davis with a bachelor’s degree in managerial economics. But there was still something she wanted to accomplish- travel and go to grad school. Cost however, was an issue. Taylor was worried about how she could afford to continue her education, but Taylor learned she had a support system who would help her find a way.

“I was surprised by how many people in my circle wanted to help me. The academic advisors send lots of resources, and UC Davis posts lots of information on aid.”

That led to Taylor applying for and receiving the Benjamin Gilman Award, which helped pay for her to study abroad in Scotland this summer. It was an experience Taylor says changed her outlook.

“I saw how big, yet small the world is… I was able to feel how similar and different it was compared to what I knew, but also felt struck by how different people, buildings were.”

So what’s next for Taylor? She’s now back at UC Davis, in the Agricultural and Resource Economics graduate program. Taylor hopes to inspire other Visions students to chase their dreams, telling students not to worry about following one straight path for education and to lean on their support system.

“College doesn’t look the same for everyone, I didn’t go straight to a four year university… ask for help and don’t neglect your support system. Most people want to help you. They’ll help you get to where you want to be.”

Visions E-Gaming Club Captures Championship Gold

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Group photo of Visions e-gaming club

Visions E-Gaming Club Captures Championship Gold

At a tense final-match on December 14, members of Visions inaugural E-Sports Club gathered to take on students from across the country. Started as a pilot program, by Visions staff in partnership with Elite Gaming League (EGL), the Visions e-gaming club combined STEM classes with e-Sport competition as incentive, requiring all students in the class to complete a certain amount of technology electives to qualify for the final competition. 


“Many of our students really liked the EGL curriculum,” says Visions Director of Technology and club coach Uriel Gonzalez. “They’ve shown interest in technology as a result of being a part of this club.” 

A Smashing Success

The game of choice this year was Super Smash Brothers Ultimate for the Nintendo Switch.

Under the supervision of Visions coaches, the e-Gaming Club met weekly online and at Visions In Education headquarters to practice and compete in ranked matches. At the championship match, Visions students went head-to-head with other students in our regional bracket finals. 

Our team of nine students all performed amazingly, with Visions clinching championship gold thanks to Lenny Muse’s fast fingers in the final match! Visions staff members were in attendance to cheer our team on and celebrate their hard work and success. 

Congratulations to our e-Sports team on their championship win! Thank you to all the parents/family who supported our students’ success and a big thank you to Uriel Gonzalez and Matthew Mueller for coaching our students and guiding them through this program!

Spreading Cheer In Our Community: Visions Gives Back

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Visions staff giving a holiday gift to a student

Spreading Cheer In Our Community: Visions Gives Back

This month, Human Resources organized our annual Adopt-A-Student program to give back to our community. Students and families were randomly selected to receive gifts for the holiday season. Gift and monetary donations were generously provided by teachers and staff.

Our HR team collected information about each of the students and went shopping while other staff helped wrap the presents and deliver the gifts. Gifts included toys, games, clothes, drawing supplies, books and more. 

Thank you to everyone that helped spread some cheer including all who donated to support our students and our delivery elves. Check out these photos to see our happy students and community in action!

“Love Visions, this is our first year here and the school called us yesterday and told us we got picked for present donations from the teachers and they showed up and all five kids were so happy, thank you Visions.” – Visions parent and gift recipient 

Happy Holidays!