A series of papers are taped to the wall above Omar’s desktop computer to help motivate him in school and in life. The leftmost paper lists the six golden rules Gurey says he tries to teach the East African youth he works with. “I put it up because this is where I do my classes and I use it for motivation,” Omar says.


He attended a public school from grade 1-3, but started going to a private school because Gurey felt there was too much systematic racism present and felt Omar wasn’t succeeding. After a few years, paying the high tuition became too difficult to sustain, and Gurey enrolled Omar in WAVA. Gurey sees this as a safe, high quality alternative.

Omar agrees. “Online school and normal school are the same, but I like online school better because I can stay in my house because I can focus better and do my work more on time. That way I won’t get distracted.”