Fourth-grader Zayne advances quickly with self-paced school.

Texas Tech K-12 science teacher Brett Mosley first met Zayne during breakfast at the 2026 Raiderpalooza. From talking to Zayne, Mosley could see in him the spark of inquisitiveness and curiosity that he loves to see in all his students.

The seasoned educator had the youngster pegged from the beginning.

Zayne enrolled into Texas Tech K-12 as a third grader nearly six months ago and is already advancing to fourth grade.

It was Zayne’s tendency to move faster than his classmates that led his parents to seek out a different option than public school for the precocious learner. 

“I did a search,” Victoria said. “I was just researching some alternatives in terms of him being able to kind of progress more quickly, some advancement opportunities. Texas Tech K-12 was perfect.” 

The biggest way Victoria sees her son flourishing is him loving to learn versus being stuck in the classroom. She says Zayne is able to move on to different concepts when he's ready and also expand on his learning. For particularly intriguing topics this is evidenced by pursuing extra projects like deep-dive PowerPoints on subjects like rainbows and gravity. 

“These PowerPoints are a really good example of him learning a concept in class and moving into project-based learning,” Victoria explained. “These aren’t necessarily part of the Texas Tech curriculum, but it’s acquiring knowledge and expanding on what the base knowledge is at Texas Tech, versus being very bored in a classroom or not having those opportunities.

“One of the primary reasons that we sought out an alternative program is so that he wouldn't lose that love of learning, or the ability to learn how to learn.” 

It was Zayne’s teacher, Michelle Kirkpatrick, who suggested him for a spotlight story, expressing great pride in her advanced student. She always looks forward to seeing his PowerPoints to marvel at how much more he has accomplished in his learning.

"Zayne's curiosity and love of learning is so beautiful,” Kirkpatrick exclaimed. “Due to the flexibility offered through Texas Tech K-12, Zayne is able to follow his curiosity, taking his learning to a deep level that would not be possible in other learning settings.”

Aside from the required core courses of English, math, social studies and science, Zayne is learning Japanese on his own and is taking piano lessons. He also has “P.E.” several times a week by way of the neighboring recreation center. Soccer and ping pong are his favorite sports, but he also enjoys basketball, racquetball and pickleball.

With the self-paced nature of the Texas Tech K-12 program, he also has plenty of free time to pursue hobbies like Pokémon, which he points out unequivocally, is his “favorite thing,” as well as building with LEGO sets and video games. He makes time to manage his menagerie comprising three cats, fish plus the tank’s resident snail, and a rare aquatic salamander called an axolotl (AX-oh-lot-uhl). 

“They're very rare, only found in Mexico,” Zayne offers, holding up a larger-than-life Axolotl plushy. “They look like this! Only one place in Mexico, and where, I have no idea.”

But you can bet he’s already researching that.

Quite articulate for an almost-nine-year-old, Zayne enthusiastically explains what he sees as the advantages of schoolwork he can do anytime from anywhere. 

“The benefits of me using Texas Tech K-12 instead of a regular school curriculum are the challenges, the flexibility to expand on my learning and that I can do it in a more comfortable environment,” Zayne said. “I like being taught different ways to do things, then picking the way I want to do it. Like in math for example. If there is an easy concept, I can do it quicker rather than waiting for other students to understand.”

The ability to solve problems at his own quick pace is already helping him to answer the question of what he wants to be when he grows up. Although it may be a bit soon to look too far into the future, Zayne thinks he wants to open a restaurant and be a businessman. 

If he has his way, though, he’ll stay in Texas Tech K-12 for now, as he finds it fun and flexible. His parents are taking it one grade level at a time. 

“We definitely know that he'll be doing this through fourth grade, and then we'll just kind of see how he feels about it,” Victoria said, glancing at her son who was vigorously nodding his approval. 

Another year – well, probably six months in his case – will give Zayne another opportunity to attend Raiderpalooza. After his experience in January, he has much to look forward to. Not just any elementary student gets invited to start out the upper-grades science session.

“When asked if he would like to be my mad scientist assistant for our first science demonstration, the answer was an immediate ‘yes,’” Mosley recalled with a grin. “I had him dress up as the mad scientist for an ‘explosive’ science demonstration where two iron spheres are hit together to ignite a large spark.

“The kind of fearless determination and willingness to learn new things Zayne demonstrated is characteristic to the Red Raider spirit. Zayne donned the mad scientist costume and together we started Raiderpalooza science with a bang.”