This is what it’s like to be a student-athlete at Rock Hill’s Legion Collegiate Academy

It’s 1:30 p.m. on May 17 at Two Scoops, an ice cream shop on Main St. in downtown Rock Hill.

Addison Haskin rings up a customer for a single scoop of ice cream as one of her co-workers prepares the order.

Now, one would think this seems like nothing special, but that’s where you’d be wrong.

Haskin is a freshman at Legion Collegiate Academy, a public charter high school in Rock Hill.

Her school day at Legion Collegiate is split into two sessions: the morning session runs from 7:30 a.m. to 10:40 a.m. and the second session runs from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Haskin, a volleyball and lacrosse player for the Lancers, attends the former session and said the format allows her to get the most out of her school day.

“Even with lacrosse practice, I still get out at two,” Haskin said. “Whereas most kids are still normally in school, I’m already done with practice. So I have enough time to go home and study and go to work at night time. Or I can go to work straight from school and still have dinner with my family.”

Here’s what Haskin’s day looked like on May 17:

6:15 a.m. - Wake up, get ready for school

7:30 a.m. - Get to school for final exam testing

9:00 a.m. - Classes start; biology first, then geometry

12:30 p.m. - Classes end, leaves for work

1:00 p.m. - Begins shift at Two Scoops

4:00 p.m. - Ends shift at Two Scoops, prepares for beach volley practice with club team CLT Beach

5:00 p.m. - Beach volleyball practice starts

6:30 p.m. - Beach volleyball practice ends

7:00 p.m. - Goes to church with family

8:00 p.m. - Leaves church and heads home for the evening

Haskin is zoned to attend South Pointe High School but decided to go to Legion Collegiate because of the dual credit opportunities that are available. Legion Collegiate is a tuition-free public charter school. For admissions information go to legioncollegiateacademy.org/admissions/

She said having such an open schedule is a benefit, and it forces her to be super responsible and smart with her time.

“That was definitely a struggle at the beginning of the year,” she said. “I’m still a freshman. I’m only 15, so I want to just be on my phone all the time and go on Instagram or something. So I have to lay out a schedule for myself.”

“My mom definitely helps with that because sometimes it just slips my mind. It’s good but a little bit of a struggle, but I feel like I’ve worked through that.”

At first, Haskin’s parents were a bit skeptical of what Legion Collegiate was offering. The school branded itself as a sports juggernaut, and students there spend half the time in classrooms compared to traditional high school.

But the more they looked into it, the more they bought into it being the right place for Addison.

“Our first concept of the school was a sports school, which is only half of it,” said Eric Haskin, Addison’s father. “The other half is the educational component and the dual credit that you can get. Because of that schedule, they’re not wasting any time with electives that aren’t necessary or the P.E. courses.”

That dual credit opportunity was a major draw to Addison, who has aspirations to become a physical trainer.

Legion Collegiate’s dual credit courses are offered primarily through University of South Carolina-Lancaster, York Technical College and Winthrop University. These classes become available to Legion Collegiate students in their junior years, after they’ve completed all the necessary general courses required high school.

Students at Legion Collegiate can graduate with as many as 60 transferrable college credit hours.

Addison has an older brother, Ethan, who graduated from South Pointe. Her parents said experiencing both sides showed them that there are benefits in both sides.

The public school route served Ethan well, and the structure at Legion Collegiate is working out well with Addison.

“It’s a whole new world of opportunity for her not only to have these college credits when she’s starting out at a university but also to get a certification of some type while she’s here,” said Amanda Haskin, Addison’s mom who works in communications and guidance at Legion Collegiate. “She’s a freshman right now, and her plan is to be a certified personal trainer before she graduates high school. That coursework has its own curriculum from the college that she’ll be taking dual credit with, but those credits are transferrable to South Carolina schools and other schools across the nation.”

Addison said she knows her schedule isn’t common among other high school students. But she says she’s still getting the high school experience she wanted.

“We come from a lot of different schools from Fort Mill to Rock Hill to Clover,” Addison said. “Everybody is really new, and nobody has certain cliques here because we’re all coming from different places. Everybody wants to make friends, and everybody is super welcoming and that helps you, especially coming in as a freshman.”