Twenty seven seniors graduate after fall semester

Students have an opportunity to graduate a semester earlier than other seniors. There are 27 students this year who’ve graduated early, each with unique reasons. 

Counselor Carrie Dieken said students in the first semester of senior year need to have completed the requirements by the end of the semester, including credits and required classes. Planning typically should start in junior year, and 45 credits are needed to graduate. 

Some students decide they’d like to graduate in their junior year, and Dieken said juniors need Board approval  to be early graduates. The final decision is approved by Principal Jason Wedgbury. 

“We don’t advertise (early graduation) to juniors, yet they are allowed to,” Dieken said. “They are included with seniors for all graduation activities and events. Juniors graduating early is a rare occurrence. They have to be planning ahead early in their highschool career.”  

According to Dieken, there are a variety of reasons for students desiring to leave early. “I would say the desire to move to the next stage of life is the most common reason for graduating.” Some students have concerns about missing out on certain things seniors get to do. “Everything is the same with preparing to graduate,” Dieken said. “These students are still allowed to attend prom. Some students know there’s a con about missing out on the final months of high school. Those last things as a high school student can be really meaningful to be a part of the highschool experience. This time of senior year is irreplaceable.” 

This year’s number of early graduated seniors is 27, and Dieken said this hasn’t been much different to other years. 

Emma Gross is a student who graduated early. She said, “I wasn’t looking into it. It just came up when I was talking with my counselor.” 

She said she had a few different reasons for choosing this path.“The motivation was coming from how much I personally hated school and wanted it to be done. I wanted to get a jump start on making my own life. Friendly and motivating teachers helped me achieve my goals. I felt motivated to do my work so I can finish school.”

Taylor Hunt is another student who graduated early. She said, “For me graduating early meant stopping taking the advanced classes I was in and finishing my credits using Apex. I was looking into graduating early because I felt that I was ready to take the next step, focus on working to save money but also learning how to better take care of myself as a person. I talked to my school counselor, and he helped me go through the process with the school. I would say my parents definitely helped me the most when it came to getting the motivation I needed to finish my classes on time. They didn’t push too hard but also supported my choice to get done with high school sooner rather than later.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Here is a list of all the early graduates for 2022:

Kennedy Aikey

Malina Amjadi

Emma angen

Samuel Bare

Mackenzie Becthold

August Bergmeier

Kara Cantrall

Isabella Carillo

Emiy Fleshner

Emma Gross

Xander Gruver

Aidan Hall

Aaron Hansen

Max Hanson 

Seth Hanson

Ashtyn Humpal

Taylor Hunt

Jhandu Kyler-Panhwar

Emma Lewis

Heaven Lickness

Jeremiah Mangum

Galen O’Brien Carlstein

Andrew Olson

Olivia Runkle

Maggie Schuring

Raelynn Strelow 

Jenna Wittenberg