Start College While Still in High School?

Shakia wanted a bigger challenge. Victoria wanted to save money. And Kelsey just couldn’t wait to become a physical therapist.

That’s why they started taking college classes while they were still in high school.

Central Virginia Community College’s Early College Program allowed them to do it. “It’s a really good program,” Shakia says. “If people can get involved, they should.” Designed for high school juniors and seniors, the program puts good students on the fast track to success.

As participants get their high school diplomas, they also got associate degrees from CVCC. So when they officially left high school for college, two of their four years of college study were already finished!

Participants in the program can take college courses in a variety of ways: online, onsite at CVCC’s main campus in Lynchburg, or onsite at one of CVCC’s satellite centers around the region.

Shakia Pennix took her college classes at CVCC’s Appomattox Center. “I needed a bigger challenge than what I was getting in high school,” she says. “The college classes were great. My teachers gave me some time to adjust, then they treated me just like any other college student.” Shakia is now at the University of Maryland, where she plans to pursue a government internship in Washington DC and travel abroad.

Victoria Hall just got home from traveling abroad with her college classmates at CVCC’s Amherst Center. Her Spanish class there took a summer field trip to Costa Rica. “The college classes are more demanding than high school, but not as hard as I thought they’d be,” she says. “Best of all, the program is allowing me to save a lot of money.” Once she finishes the program, Victoria plans to study engineering at the University of Virginia or at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Kelsey Shelton broke her arm playing soccer in the eighth grade, and her recovery was helped tremendously by physical therapy. “I went to the therapist and saw how she helped people and knew that’s what I wanted to do, too,” she says. Kelsey, a graduate of CVCC’s Bedford Center, is now taking advanced classes (and running track) in her first year Lynchburg College. “Going to a four-year institution is so much easier for me than it is for other first-year students.”