All students can think about is getting out of school and moving forward with their lives. Well, students can graduate early and get their lives in gear with the benefit of graduating early. “Graduating early has definitely helped me move forward with life. It’s made me work harder, and have more responsibility,” Daianna Biswell states. School is very important for everyone to accomplish and achieve. But the students who graduate early have more opportunities, since the work has paid off. “I wouldn’t necessarily say that students have to work hard! I will say that students have to remain focused to meet early graduation requirements. Since the credits have been lowered to 22 from 24, and we’ve made other English options available throughout the school year, students no longer have to attend summer school to meet graduation requirements. So, as long as students pass all classes and start their senior year with 18.5 credits, they qualify for early graduation,” Mrs Pierson says.
There are the pros and cons of graduating early, as well. “Pros: Students get an opportunity to get a jump start on their careers, whether it’s taking college classes or picking up a trade. Students get an opportunity to work more hours to save for essentials, such as investing in their college/career plans, buying a car, building up their savings. Cons: If there is no definitive plan to begin working toward future goals, can it be considered wasted time/opportunity. The continued time spent with continuing to foster relationships with peers because healthy socializing is great for the soul!” Pierson says. Other pros and cons would be, “Oh jeez, the Pros are you don’t have to get up early anymore! Kidding, it definitely helps you move forward if you are pursuing a dream job, or it helps you get into college programs faster. The cons are if you have no idea what you want to do, say going back to school, or getting a job, it could be a little stressful since you feel you’re stuck,” Biswell claims.
But how can students graduate early? “It’s just as simple as remaining focused and passing all classes. Now, I wish we could place a service learning component to it. Would it be reasonable to require 10 hours of volunteerism as a stipulation of applying for early graduation? That would give students the push to begin thinking about and giving back to the community,” Pierson says. Does graduating early really benefit students? “Oh absolutely! It helped me a lot to focus on my workplace better, and with me going back to school in the fall, it helps me save money and supplies for college,” Biswell says. Graduating early clearly has a good amount of opportunities for students to get ahead of the line and go into the ‘Adult’ life when they graduate early. “Definitely! Life’s reality is that students are in different phases of their lives. When students submit early graduation request forms, they list matters such as saving enough money to go to college because I have to contribute to my tuition or I have to continue to help my family with bills or my mother is ill, and I have to take care of my siblings, or I have to help out more with the family business. As you can see, there are many reasons why students feel they want or need to graduate early,” Pierson explains.
Graduating early helps students get back on their feet to help family and friends. “Graduating early definitely helped my mom pay the bills, and I recently helped my brother get a job! It’s helped me a lot since I also don’t have to stress about getting my homework done, since I’m done with school!” Biswell says. Graduating early helps students move forward in life. It helps them evolve, and become who they are pursuing to be when they grow up into adulthood. “It also helped my sleep schedule!” Biswell says.
