Scholarly athletes: Long, Miller graduate from college before high school
May 17—Grayson Long and Jeremiah Miller have excelled on the playing fields during their high school career at Logansport, but their achievements in the classroom rival what they have accomplished in sports.
Long and Miller are the first in LHS history to graduate from college before they graduated high school.
They did so by earning a two-year associate's degree from Ivy Tech Community College, where they graduated during ceremonies on Friday, May 12. They are set to graduate with academic honors diplomas from Logansport High School on Sunday, June 4.
The duo earned 60 college credit hours apiece from Ivy Tech through a combination of taking dual credit and AP classes and taking eight-week college online classes at Ivy Tech. Although the classes were online, they did take some final exams at the Logansport Ivy Tech campus.
They did all this while also being standout three-sport athletes in football, basketball and baseball for the Berries, which by itself is a very time-consuming endeavor.
"It took a lot of work," said Miller, who credited his mother, Julien Gaumer, an English teacher at LHS, for initially getting him started towards earning college credit in high school.
"Going through high school my mom talked to me about taking dual credit classes and hard classes and getting them out of the way so I didn't have to take them in college," Miller said. "Once I got to junior year, I was introduced to getting my associate's. I'd have to do extra classes during the summer and during the school year on top of other classes in the school year. I was like, you know what, why not, because they are eight-week classes and I could do it, so I did it.
"It was a lot of nights staying up late on top of doing other work. I'm proud of myself that I was able to get it done. I wouldn't have been able to do it without my support system of my family and my friends and my teachers."
Miller is graduating with a 4.2 GPA at LHS and he earned a 3.9 GPA at Ivy Tech. He is going to play football at DePauw University in Greencastle.
He said his college credits will transfer over to DePauw to the effect where he will be starting off there as a sophomore. He plans to major in sports journalism and kinesiology.
He went to a spring football practice at DePauw this past Sunday, when the team also held a ring ceremony for winning the NCAC title, which they secured with a 49-14 win over Wabash in the Monon Bell Game. Miller plans to head out to DePauw in early August to join the team for summer camp.
Long is graduating with a 4.3 GPA at LHS and he earned a 3.9 GPA at Ivy Tech. He is going to play football at Marian University in Indianapolis.
He said his Ivy Tech credits will help him graduate sooner from Marian, where he plans to major in a business or medical field.
"I'll just hopefully get there a little easier and maybe a little bit quicker. I won't have to do as many classes, maybe my senior year I'll kind of relax," he said.
Before he heads to Marian for summer camp in August, Long will play in the North-South All-Star Classic on July 14 at Decatur Central High School.
"I'm excited. I met a lot of my Marian teammates that are on the All-Star team too and they're excited too," Long said. "Some of them are on the opposing team so we're kind of chirping a little bit."
Former Logansport great Jason Spear will be the linebackers coach for the North team. His son, Shayne Spear, of the Kokomo Wildkats will also be an inside linebacker for the North alongside Long. Shayne Spear will play at Findlay University in Ohio.
Logansport's baseball team looks to be one of the top contenders at the Kokomo Sectional this year. Miller is the starting catcher and bats second in the lineup for the Berries. Long is the starting first baseman and bats third.
The Berries drew host Kokomo in a game that will be played at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 24 at Kokomo Municipal Stadium. The Berries will have to win three games to win the sectional.
They enter with a 17-9 record. They had a shot at winning the NCC title this past weekend but lost to McCutcheon and Harrison in a pair of walkoff losses in what were tie games in the bottom of the seventh inning, showing they are close. In fact all of their losses this year are to either McCutcheon, Harrison, Avon or Lafayette Jeff.
"We are very confident. We can play with anybody and we were in those games," Miller said. "We're playing at a good level right now. We just have to clean some stuff up on the defensive side and hitting side. We just need to put the pieces together and I think we can win the sectional."
"Hopefully we can get it put together here for sectionals, make a little run," Long added. "I think once we focus in and lock in, I think we can make all the plays. We have the capability, we just need to execute."
Miller and Long are two kids from Logansport who just happen to excel in sports while also graduating from college before they did from high school.
"He's been my best friend since elementary school since around second grade, third grade," Miller said. "Just being able to accomplish that with him is just a blessing."