As a student of the class of 2020 set to graduate in 2019 instead, reflecting on my experiences has left me with the knowledge that graduating early isn’t for everyone.

There really isn’t any point to graduate early if you don’t have a goal you want to obtain at an earlier date.

You must first finish your GED, which almost inevitably requires classes outside of Roseville, consuming valuable time during your dwindling summer at a local community college.

It is a sacrifice. It is equal parts rewarding and stressful, doubt and determination.

As someone who has almost finished their GED requirements by the first quarter of junior year, I feel as though this whole grand plan has been an experience.

For me, the desire to graduate a whole year early meant I had to take what would normally be a whole year’s worth of classes at RHS, such as AP U.S History, in 2 months at the local community college during my summer. The courses were rigorous but actually had less work than the regular year-long course at RHS.

Either way there was a lot of stress over the summer. I didn’t fully acknowledge what I was getting into at the time but I readied myself because I felt that I wanted to start a independent, and quite frankly, more liberating life beyond the constraints of conventional high school life.

I will say that if you don’t really have a goal in mind I don’t think it’s a good idea to graduate early. I felt as if yes,

I did want a early start on life.

But I put so much stress on myself.

I sacrificed a whole summer and really fell out of the circle of my friends who could spend time with each other over summer. Leaving your class and graduating with a completely different one is sad in its own way. It is alienating at times and it will try you with the sheer amount of doubt you encounter.

Pursuing it requires you to take more extreme classes, flooding your junior year schedule with senior requirements like government/econ and language classes back to back. It really left me with a heavy schedule, there was little time to dally with electives that I may have been interested in and could have grown from.

I’m not here to discourage you from the possibility of graduating a year early. Some individuals have other motives than just getting ahead in life, ranging from personal problems to home life issues to even the most trivial, such as feeling you’d rather graduate and have a gap semester to party.

It’s all valid. To be frank I do feel a little more confident and less clustered with the future knowing high school is coming to a early close. The Sierra College classes allowed me to participate and learn in a more mature zone which I deeply wanted to experience.

I know that high school is crucial to any young adolescents life but I experienced a completely different atmosphere that made me realize that I really did want to get ahead and experience the college life just a little bit earlier.

Don’t think you can only graduate a year early by taking Sierra College and community classes over the summer. You can actually graduate in mid-senior year, if you manage to fulfill the last remaining GED’s earlier, (sacrificing a few fun classes for requirements in senior year) you can get out early and return for graduation with the same class you are in.

So I’m just here to notify you that there are options if you want to leave high school earlier or enjoy some sweet time off and bask in your efforts.