The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Child actor is cyber-schooled
Gwinnett girl to be on ‘Criminal Minds,’ learns on the go.
Gwinnett County seventh-grader Christa Beth Campbell sometimes does her schoolwork on an airplane en route to some pretty cool after-school jobs in Hollywood.
“It’s like raising your hand, except I’m 35,000 feet in the air,” the 12year-old said.
Campbell is enrolled in Gwinnett’s Online Campus, which allows students to take most of their classes on their laptops or digital devices. Gwinnett school officials spotlight students such as Campbell as examples of successfully juggling studies through the program and pursuing careers in athletics or performing arts.
Enrollment has more than tripled since it opened in 1999, from 122 students to about 450. Officials expect enrollment to rise by another 150 students next year.
Across Georgia, more students are taking advantage of technology to study away from school.
More than 37,000 Georgia students were enrolled in at least one online course last school year, according to state education department officials. The Georgia Virtual School, created in 2005, provides a teacherled, virtual classroom environment in more than 100 courses. The state also has a charter school, Georgia Connections Academy, that students can attend from home.
Campbell has been acting since she was 4, and things are going pretty well for her. Last week, she was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society. Wednesday, she has a role on the 250th episode of the CBS drama “Criminal Minds.”
“And I got an A in math,” she said, raising her arms triumphantly.
Campbell has had about 30 acting roles, not including commercials and stage productions. Her co-stars have included famed actors such as Janeane Garofalo, Amy Poehler and Owen Wilson. Her roles have ranged from a flesh-eating zombie to more serious parts such as a victim of sexual assault. Campbell’s family discussed whether the sexual abuse role was appropriate for her, but decided she should do it.
“In the end, we decided that would actually protect her more from this because we would talk about and we would make her aware that these things don’t usually happen by strangers, because in this situation it was somebody close to the child,” said her mother, Hope Campbell.
Christa uses Adobe Connect, Dropbox and Google docs to collaborate with classmates on projects. She said the skills she’s learned using such tools have helped her better understand some of the technical work done on film sets, and she’s even helped on some projects.
The 12-year-old has been away from home for as many as six weeks for various auditions, filming and premieres. The toughest part, she said, is being away from friends.
Christa said she enjoyed working on “Criminal Minds” because its star, Joe Mantegna, directed the episode. She’s working on her own short film.
As for her part on the show, Christa told an interviewer, you’ll have to watch.
“I can’t talk about it,” she said.