Are you looking to graduate early? Perhaps join the workforce ahead of schedule? Or maybe start college faster than the rest? Ottawa offers an early graduation program that allows seniors to graduate halfway through the year.
How to? Guidance counselor Heather Dorton said to set up a meeting with your counselor junior year to make sure everything is in place and to start filling out the application. You’ll want to make sure that you double up on an English credit so you can end with eight credits. Once everything is tied up, you’ll be approved to graduate.
Many successful students plan to graduate early. Senior Paige Rice is planning to take general education courses at IVCC in the spring to get a jump start on an associate’s degree in psychology.
Senior Seth Pettenger is also going to take classes at IVCC in the spring en route to go into criminology or criminal justice.
Some students have unique circumstances. Senior Maura Condon said she is “committed to Purdue and will be playing softball there in the spring.” She is planning on doing something in business, and the early graduation option made it possible for her to explore this awesome opportunity.
All students said the process was easy and reasonable.
Who should early grad? Students who “feel that they’re ready to start the next chapter of their life and have a plan. I see a lot of students that are successful with following through on their plan,” Dorton said.
You might want to consider that early graduation would mean you are ineligible to play spring sports or participate in spring activities. If that’s important to you, you may want to reconsider. However, students can still participate in graduation and prom
