Student Spotlight: Alexandra Chaves

Alexandra Chaves is a VHS student from Cambridge, Ontario. She is a thriving dancer and actor with an impressive background in those art forms. At age four, Alexandra began training in ballet, jazz, tap, hip hop, lyrical, and contemporary dance and has won numerous national and international awards. She has also attended the National Ballet School summer program in the past and was subsequently invited to their prestigious professional program. Alexandra also had the opportunity to be a member of the Toronto Raptors Junior Hip Hop crew and got to perform on the court during breaks at Raptors games.

At the age of 12, Alexandra began pursuing her acting career. She is best known for her role as Piper in seasons 4–6 of the Canadian Family Channel series The Next Step, a popular mock-reality show that also airs in Europe, Australia, and the United States. The show’s success led to exciting live touring opportunities for Alexandra. She has toured with The Big Ticket Summer Concert Series across Canada and for The Next Step LIVE on Stage tours in Europe. She is currently training for Australian and UK tours. In addition to her role on The Next Step, Alexandra also has many other acting credits including:

• A guest star role in the upcoming season of Hallmark Channel’s Good Witch TV series                  
• A supporting role in a Proctor & Gamble web series
• A role in a nationally broadcast American TV commercial
• An upcoming supporting role in the Lifetime channel movie Saving Alex

Soon after graduating from elementary school as valedictorian with the highest grade average in her class, Alexandra booked a lead role on The Next Step after having auditioned months earlier. Her schedule would now involve being on set every day in Toronto from September to December, which gave her the realization that it would be impossible to travel back and forth between Toronto and Cambridge for school. She needed to pursue an alternative.

After finding Virtual High School online, Alexandra decided to begin taking courses to ensure she could continue her education in a format that worked for her. Here is Alexandra’s perspective on her VHS experience:

“After an in-depth Google search, it was clear that Virtual High School was the leading online high school credit institution. I was able to quickly and easily register as a student and have never looked back! My current career in acting and dance requires me to travel for training, filming and touring. Virtual High School has allowed me to pursue my career while maintaining the marks that I require to eventually submit to universities when the time is right. I am particularly interested in biology, and VHS has provided me with an in-depth educational experience with virtual labs and class discussions that immerse me in the topic, strengthen my understanding and fuel my passion. I look forward to continuing to pursue my love for science in my academic career!”

Moving forward, Alexandra will continue her high school education with VHS while preparing for her fall tour where she will be performing across Australia and the UK. Good luck, Alexandra!