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By Holly Walker
Andrew Hart and Emily McGee don’t know each other, but they share an important distinction. They are the first high school students to graduate from John Tyler Community College with an associate degree before graduating high school. Getting to this point required guts, ingenuity, and lots of hard work. Both had to forge new territory as they explored ways to complete high school and their associate degree programs at virtually the same time. To accomplish this feat took a lot of planning; time management; a willingness to take courses on campus or online; and support from their families, friends, high schools, and John Tyler faculty and staff. It also took a combination of dual enrollment classes, concurrent courses, and AP credits. Andrew and Emily both admit that they had to give up some of their free time to juggle their college and high school assignments, but both agree that it was worth the extra work.
Andrew will graduate from Tyler in May with an Associate of Arts in Liberal Arts with an International Studies Specialization. He will celebrate his graduation from Chesterfield County’s Clover Hill High School in June. Using a transfer agreement, he will continue college at Virginia Commonwealth University, where he plans to double major in political science/international relations and homeland security. After that, he is considering working toward a master’s degree. His goal: to get a job with the State Department.
Emily also will graduate from John Tyler in May. Her degree will be an Associate of Science in General Studies. In June, she will receive her diploma from James River High School in Chesterfield. She will continue her studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, where she plans to study fashion merchandising. She hopes her head start on college will give her the ability to take advantage of internships and study abroad opportunities sooner, which will help her get ahead in the very competitive fashion industry. Eventually, she says she’d like to own a boutique and sell her own clothing designs.
Andrew and Emily are two of the amazing graduates that make up the Class of 2013. Read about some of our other graduates at http://www.jtcc.edu/services/graduation/snapshots-of-the-class, and watch a video about them at http://youtu.be/ErZ1ZTlWlFc.