By: Lane Summey

At the end of the first semester, the student body said farewell to some of its seniors that graduated early. Graduating early opens the door to adulthood much earlier for some people. However, it’s a lot of work to reach the point where you can graduate early.

“You have to start talking to your counselor right off the bat freshman year to get your four-year plan figured out,” early graduate Helena Lashley said. “If everything goes well with no hiccups, you should finish the first semester of senior year with all the required credits and classes needed to graduate completed. The speed at which you finish depends on how you take your classes, whether that’s online of doubling up on certain classes,” Lashley said.

Getting into a position to graduate early could give you a range of emotions. Spreading from happy to finish, sad to say goodbye, or even frustrated by the workload. However, with hard work and dedication, these early graduates get through it.

“Part of me feels very independent that I get the opportunity to make that choice to go early,” junior Devon Taylor said. “However, on the other hand, it definitely makes me think about that whole other semester I will be missing spending with my family here in Houston.”

People have asked if the early graduates feel as though they’re missing out on the final step of the last four years of their life. From little things such as lunch table conversations to big things like walking the stage at graduation, you can’t help but wonder.

“I don’t feel like I am missing out at all, I’m following my dreams and getting my life started,” Lashley said. “I love it so much, I have so much more freedom and I’m learning a lot more than before because I genuinely enjoy going to these college classes.”

Sometimes people keep certain situations quiet, so people don’t find out, mainly to avoid any conflict or seeing someone get emotional. However, graduating high school is a milestone in life and its hard to say a final “goodbye” or “see you later”.

“Not a lot of friends actually know for sure that I plan on it,” Taylor said. “But the ones that do, often tell me to wait and just finish high school, and not to rush my life.”