By Danielle Faulk

Eighth grade Raa Middle School student Billy Brickner, 14, attends Leon High School during first period to take a class which his middle school does not offer.

Brickner attends Susan Nelson’s Algebra II class because he started math early and excelled at it.

Leon was contacted by Raa’s assistant principle about a student who was advanced in math. Raa, however, could not offer the Algebra II class he needed. Leon and Raa worked out the schedule togeher. Brickner now takes his math class at Leon in addition to his classes at Raa.

His mother brings Brickner every day. It takes about 20 minutes to get to Leon. He has been taking Algebra II since the first day of school.

On his first day, Brickner was nervous. According to Brickner, Leon is different from Raa because the students are allowed to carry around backpacks to their classes. Leon is also not as strict with rules such as dress code . Brickner also noticed that Leon was bigger and had more class opportunities than Raa.

His favorite thing about Leon is the fact that he is getting ahead in math and having an early start on college. However, he does not like the early start time for first period.

Going to Leon, while still being in middle school does make Brickner stand out in comparison to the average middle school student.

“A couple of people [at Raa] are jealous, but I don’t like to brag about it,” Brickner said.

Brickner still has to do all tests and assignments that Leon students have to do, including mid-terms and final exams. All school rules apply while he is on campus.

“He [Brickner] is a Leon student as long as he is here,” said Billy Epting, assistant principal of curriculum.

According to Epting, Brickner is the first kid in the four years Epting has been here, to attend Leon and not actually be enrolled as a high school student.

“Every now and then it works out where kids can come to Leon,” Epting said.

Even some home-schooled students come to Leon for specialized classes.

At Raa, Brickner takes band, physical science, American history, language arts, jazz band and shop.

After graduating from high school, Brickner would like to attend MIT or Georgia Tech and pursue a degree in engineering.