Four high school students graduate from Calhoun

Audrey Johnson, The Decatur Daily, Ala.
·2 min read

May 19—Before they will receive their high school diplomas, four local high school students graduated last week with associate degrees from Calhoun Community College.

Brylee Lake and Laci Parham of Austin High School, Benjamin Blakely of Athens Bible School and Spencer Holley of Brewer High School completed graduation requirements at Calhoun through the community college's dual enrollment program.

"It's just grown because it's a great program," said Gwen Baker, Calhoun's director of dual enrollment. "Students like it. They like the fact that they're getting acclimated to college while they're still in high school."

Baker started as the director of dual enrollment for Calhoun in 2006 with 400 students involved in the program. This school year, more than 1,500 students participated.

In addition to the students graduating with their associate degrees, Calhoun issued 60 high school students short-term certificates — a 22-credit hour certification for completing general studies requirements or automotive, technologies, computer science, Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) or Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA) requirements.

Baker said that state funding for career technical education and students and parents asking for the program at their schools helped the dual enrollment program take off. Nearly 250 high school seniors earned an honor cord from Calhoun for completing 17 or more credit hours.

Spencer Holley, whose father John Holley works as the dean of Technologies at Calhoun, started dual enrollment through Calhoun his sophomore year.

"(My dad) approached me about doing it then just signed me up for classes," Spencer Holley said. "After doing it, I realized how great of an opportunity it was."

Holley's favorite class he took while dual enrolled at Calhoun was history. In the meantime, he continued to take career tech classes at Brewer, like HVAC/R (heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration) and agriscience.

He wants to pursue his love for agriculture in college but hasn't decided on his next step.

"I may go to Mississippi State or Auburn and get an agriculture degree," Holley said. "Or I may stick around the house and just do something online — go ahead and finish out my four years."

Wherever he chooses, Holley will arrive with two years of college credits.

"I have a lot of students that told me in the past that they were really able to accelerate their college careers," Baker said. "They're getting to start to build a college transcript while they're still in high school."

For Holley, this means he can get back to his farm as soon as he gets his degree.

"I'm the fifth generation on our farm," Holley said. "I've grown up having cows and doing hay, and I enjoy it. There's always something you can learn."

Holley's class at Brewer graduates Monday. Lake and Parham will graduate from Austin on Tuesday. Blakely's Athens Bible graduation is also on Tuesday.

— audrey.johnson@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2437.