To get a head start on college and working, three students have decided to graduate early by taking extra courses.
Students that will be graduating early are seniors Camryn Cox, Tiyana Pippens, and Tarin Haney.
Pippens said she wanted to start her plans sooner.
“I wanted to graduate early so I could start working and college sooner and move out sooner,” Pippens said.
Senior Tarin Haney said he likes that seniors are able to graduate early.
“When I first came to Archer, I thought it was great that they had a program to be able to do this, and I really wanted to get a head start.” Haney said
Pippens said there are positives and negatives to graduating after the first semester.

“A positive is getting to start life earlier than I expected and really just to not having to come to school,” Pippens said. “The negative side to it is that once we leave, that’s it and no more high school memories.”
Cox said she will miss UIL events in the second semester.
“Negatives would be not getting to see the other seniors and leaving prohibits me from participating in UIL during the second semester,” Cox said.
Pippens said to start the process of graduating early, she had to explain why she wanted to and what her plans were.
“Initially I had to have a meeting with the counselor and Dr. John Sherrill and talk about my goals,” Pippens said.
In addition to meetings the seniors had to complete second semester coursework.
“A negative would definitely be all the coursework,” Haney said. “I had to take extra courses through APEX.”
APEX Learning is a provider of digital courses accessible to students and teachers.
Cox said the coursework was worth it.
“I had to take courses through APEX that covered the second semester,” Cox said. “It was fairly easy and just took a couple months.”
Students will not be leaving for good in December.
“We are still able to attend senior events in the second semester so I feel like I get the best of both worlds,” Pippens said.
Cox said she isn’t very concerned about missing certain events.
“I’m pretty much okay with it because I’m not a hugely sentimental person and it’s just not that big of a deal for me to miss one semester of events,” Cox said.
Although they are allowed to attend, Haney said he will still miss some events.
“At first I was kind of sad but once I got to thinking about it, I’ll be able to go to so many college events,” Haney said.
Pippens said after graduating she plans to start college.
“I plan on going to cosmetology school for nine months and then medical school,” Pippens said.
Haney said he also plans to attend college after graduating.
“Starting in the spring of 2023, I’m going to Vernon College and in the fall I’ll be transferring to Grayson College,” Haney said. “I plan to major in theatre and go to a university for mass media for four years.”
Cox said she plans to transfer colleges as well.
“I plan on going to Collin College in the fall of 2023 and after two years transferring to NYU in New York,” Cox said.