For most of her senior year, Jessica Rhees point-and-clicked about as often as she raised her hand.

Rhees, Delta Charter High School’s valedictorian, is a part of the school’s hybrid learning program, mixing the traditional classroom with an online curriculum.

She said she went to two classes a week at the rural Tracy school, located more than 10 miles from her home, and took the rest of her courses via the Internet. Rhees, 17, said the 329-student charter school and the new way of learning have helped her.

“I like smaller schools,” said Rhees, who transferred to Delta Charter from Millennium, another charter school in Tracy. “It was kind of fun (taking online classes), because it meant that I was working at my own pace entirely.”

Rhees, who will most likely study psychology at Brigham Young University in Utah, also made the trek to the campus to take part in the school’s speech and debate team.

Joining the team came at the recommendation of her parents, but as she gained experience, she grew to love debating. She said she gained experience in types of debating, such as cooperative and parliamentary, where students are given a topic to debate moments before they go on stage.

“I think most of my learning came from the speech and debate team,” Rhees said.

Rhees had to be diligent to balance her academic work with the demands of debate. She took a full course load and said that, including travel, the debate club can require up to 20 hours in a given week.

For her hard work, she was recognized as the leader of Delta Charter’s 96 graduating students on May 22.

Jessica Rhees 4-1-1

Age: 17

Education: Delta Charter High School, valedictorian

How long in Tracy: six years

GPA: 3.6

Will attend: Brigham Young University, in Provo, Utah

Graduation: May 22