BY KYRA BACON
New opportunities for early graduation will be available in the upcoming school year and students will have a chance to graduate a year early instead of halfway through their senior year.
Starting in the 2013-2014 school year, early graduation, unlike this year and the years before, will not be offered in January. Instead, underclassmen can choose to graduate as a junior in one of two paths: career prep or college prep. Requirements for each new early graduation path vary.
“Because of the new schedule, graduation in January is too complicated,” Guidance counselor Teresa Sullivan said. “Now students can only graduate a year early or regular graduation.”
The possible early graduation paths both require 18 credits, as opposed to the typical requirement of graduating with 24 credits. Students choosing to receive their diploma through early graduation must also maintain a 3.5 GPA, pass the tenth grade FCAT, and pass the EOCs for Algebra 1, Geometry and Biology. The number of credits required for each academic subject vary between the two paths. Neither require fine arts or physical education credits.
In order to graduate early through the career preparatory plan, students need to take four credits of Electives, English and Mathematics, only three credits is required for Science and Social Studies. The requirement of two foreign language credits for regular graduation does not apply for the career preparatory diploma.
Similar to the career preparatory plan, the college preparatory plan also requires the four credits of English and Mathematics as well as the three credits of Science and Social Studies. However, this plan does require the two credits of a foreign language, and minimizes the elective credit count to two. Also, this early graduation path requires one course of computer competency.
Early graduation has many benefits, such as going to college earlier, needing less credits, getting ahead of your graduating class and saving money. Students are encouraged to graduate early if they think one of these options is right for them.
