Eby shines at Project CDA, Bridge Academy

COEUR d'ALENE - Anyone who has attended recent school board meetings in Coeur d'Alene knows Mariah Eby.

With the grace and calm of a polished keynote speaker, the 17-year-old has given school district trustees monthly updates on how things are going at her school, Project CDA and Bridge Academy.

Not bad for a kid who struggles with dyslexia and bouts of crippling anxiety, who describes her family life as "tough."

She hesitates when asked if she reads much, or if she has a favorite novel.

"I just finished reading my first book," Eby says with a smile. "My teachers encouraged me to read a chapter book this year by myself. I was really amazed when I picked up the book and finally managed to deal with it."

Eby is now working her way through a teen fiction series. She has read five books so far.

"I struggle with the computer. That's all reading," Eby said.

She's overcoming that challenge also, by taking online courses at the Bridge Academy. Bridge is the Coeur d'Alene School District's credit retrieval high school on the same campus as Project CDA. Students take courses online at the school with a teacher in the classroom working with them at the same time.

Eby is now taking Algebra II online, and doing well. "The Bridge program works for me. My teacher is encouraging me to go higher, to take trigonometry and pre-calculus," Eby said. "Those words are scary to me."

She never really thought she had it in her.

Life got even harder for Eby in 2008 when her father was murdered in Spokane.

"It was our homecoming night at CHS," she said.

Eby describes herself as "a daddy's girl," and having her mother go to jail shortly after her father's death just complicated things.

She remembers looking around at her classmates, and feeling bad because she didn't have a mom and dad, and the kinds of homes they did.

Up until that time, Eby managed to get by in school despite her academic struggles.

After her father's death, she couldn't keep it up. The anxiety became overwhelming. School, the place that had always been a refuge when her family life was difficult, became a curse. Eby left CHS.

Eventually, she began attending classes at Project, the school district's alternative high school, and it proved a godsend.

The teachers and staff challenge her emotionally and socially, she said, not just academically.

"I put myself into the school so much here," Eby said. "Last term I got straight As."

Eby said she works hard at school because her parents always encouraged her to achieve.

She tries to stay out of the "drama" while supporting her fellow classmates.

Eby loves Project, and gets excited when she talks about the students' efforts to provide more "spirit days" and a prom.

But the thing she likes the most about her school is the teachers. "They talk to you like they understand what you're going through," Eby said. "You feel like they're here for you, not like you're here on their time."

She's looking forward to taking some dual enrollment classes at North Idaho College, and hopes to continue with college after she graduates from Project.

Eby isn't sure what career path she'll follow, but it will probably have something to do with helping people, maybe counseling or forensics.

"A peacemaker, that's what I want to be," she said.