With Texas Tech K-12, Avril Huang has a clear path to her future.

For Texas Tech K-12 eighth-grader Avril Huang, success isn’t confined to the classroom. It stretches from the edge of her gymnastics mat to the future she’s already mapping for herself. 

With the flexibility of a training schedule built for elite gymnastics and an academic plan tailored for pre-med, she has a clear path to her dream of becoming an anesthesiologist. Avril is proof that when education flexes, excellence follows.

In her second year with Texas Tech K-12, Avril transitioned from private school to the fully online, self-paced program, which was challenging at first. But moving from a traditional classroom to an independent, online environment accelerated her academic growth.

“I like taking my own notes and teaching myself; it’s really cool,” Avril said with a grin. “The independence and accountability really helped me.”

Avril’s intense training schedule was the catalyst for the switch. She competes for the World Olympic Gymnastics Academy (WOGA) and trains under Team USA coaches Haiou Sun and Yevgeny Marchenko. Her daily routine includes two practice sessions: 8 a.m. to noon and 4-7 p.m. plus additional hours on Fridays and Saturdays. In total, she practices for about 35 hours a week. 

Between workouts, she studies in a quiet classroom at the gym, logging into her courses and staying on track. After all, becoming an anesthesiologist is not an easy path. Avril was inspired by her grandmother at a very early age. 

“Avril has had her heart set on anesthesiology since elementary school,” said Avril’s mom, Kelly. 

Before Kelly was born, her mother was an orthopedic doctor and then an anesthesiologist until she moved to the United States. Since then, she has worked at Duke University helping with research projects.

The portability of the program is especially helpful during travel. Avril’s competition season started in mid-January with a trip to Las Vegas. 

Aside from the advantage of academic flexibility, Kelly is more than happy with the structure, discipline and independent thinking required by the school’s curriculum.

“Texas Tech K-12 gives Avril the flexibility she needs to pursue her goals without sacrificing academic rigor,” she said. “It’s demanding, but it prepares students well for the future.” 

From the Rink to the Mat

Avril’s love for movement started early with ice skating when she was a toddler. 

“One time, I was doing the splits,” Avril recalled. “I was like, ‘Oh, I’m really flexible, and I want to start gymnastics and stuff.’ I got enrolled in gymnastics in those ‘little kid’ classes.”

At age 4, she enrolled in recreational gymnastics at WOGA and began competing in 2019, just before her seventh birthday. Today, she competes at Level 9 (of 10) and performs all four events—vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor. 

After two seasons interrupted by injuries, this is her first full start in three years, and she’s excited to build momentum through a season that typically runs through early May.

Beyond the Gym: Stage, Screen and Song

Avril’s talents don’t just include skating and gymnastics. She began dance and theater before age 6, and in 2023 she was cast as Young Tarzan in the Dallas Lyric Stage professional production of “Tarzan.” She advanced to callbacks for season two of Netflix’s “Sweet Tooth,” a major milestone that included additional video work and even a request to get passports ready for filming in New Zealand before the production shifted direction. 

While her acting is on pause due to the demands of her Level 9 training, she has attended a Broadway camp in New York since 2021. Avril plans to attend one last time in May with her older sister Ariel, a dedicated musical theatre student.

Training and Learning with Intention

While some athletes chase the elite track toward the Olympics, Avril’s current focus is NCAA gymnastics—with a goal of reaching Level 10 and earning a spot at her dream schools, Stanford or the University of Pennsylvania, which both have strong pre-med programs. 

Kelly says coaches from elite college programs pass through the gym often to scout athletes. Avril has caught some attention already, and Kelly says the hope is one of them offers her a scholarship.

Avril keeps a core course load of English, math, science and social studies, and she has already started her high school foreign language requirement with German. She gravitates toward math and science. She is considering taking geometry over the summer to accelerate her path. She also mentions specifically the hands-on nature of Texas Tech K-12’s science labs. The sourdough starter assignment was a hit. 

Like her gymnastics regimen, her days are highly structured with morning practice, schoolwork in her gym classroom, refuel then evening practice. Sundays are for rest—and for being a normal teen when she can.

Along with Kelly and Ariel, Avril’s family includes her dad, Johnny, who works at American Airlines headquarters, which is helpful in that it allows them the opportunity to fly standby for much of the gymnastics travel. The household menagerie includes two turtles, a bearded dragon and a corgi. Her shelves include a rubber duck collection (a nod to her dream car, the Mercedes G-Wagon) and Jellycat plushies (dinosaurs and chicks being her favorites). Her circle of friends includes her gymnastics teammates and companions from her previous school. 

Avril also takes time to volunteer at Medical City Plano through work with National Charity League. When there is downtime, she loves Disney cruises and, like any teen with early morning commitments and double practices … sleeping.

With Texas Tech K-12, It’s Possible

Avril and her mom both make it clear that the hardworking middle-schooler could not pursue her dreams without the online, self-paced education. 

“Texas Tech K-12 helps me balance school and gymnastics so I can keep working toward my dream of competing in college,” Avril said confidently.

Kelly says for families considering Texas Tech K-12, Avril’s experience speaks for itself: the program’s structure allows her to train at an elite level, travel for competitions and stay on track academically—all while preparing for a demanding future in college athletics and, ultimately, medical school.

“This is an excellent program,” Kelly said. “It’s demanding, but it prepares you well for the future—especially if you need flexibility to pursue big goals.”