Seven days. Seven days. Seven days left of school for the graduating class of 2017 and then they will be thrown out of the K-12 education system which is what they have know their entire lives and plunged into the new world of college, military or the work force. As lowerclassmen prepare for the loss of the senior class, they are going to lose a bit more than they bargained for.

Junior Jaci McGranahan is not a senior, but she is graduating this year as an 11th grader. This decision has come for her after lots of thought and time.

“I decided I wanted to graduate early last year. I figured out that I could do it and it wouldn’t be too hard. I had most of my class requirements already and I just thought that the idea sounded nice. A year off will definitely make me more prepared for college,” McGranahan said.

McGranahan’s year off isn’t being taken just to get out of school. On her year off, she wants to visit Vermont, Colorado and New York where she will be visiting colleges in all of theses states.  

“I want time before college but I also want to go to college with kids my own age after taking the year off. A gap year would put me with people that aren’t my own age so I would feel out of place,” McGranahan said.

Graduating early was not as easy as just buying a cap and gown for McGranahan. She had to achieve an advanced diploma in three years compared to the usual four years.

“I had to go through a whole process to graduate early. There was paperwork and Ms. Prieto had to sign off on it and Kizner had to approve it. It was definitely a process,” McGranahan said.

Throughout this process, McGranahan’s family has been on board with the idea.

“[My family is] all fine with it. My sister kind of worries that I won’t go back to college if I take a year off, but I’m definitely going to go. That’s the plan and I don’t think I’m going to stray from that,” McGranahan said.

Guiding her through this entire process is her school counsellor, Korey Lamb. He has been through the process of early graduation several times.

“She had a conversation about her goals as far as college and her plans out of high school and it made a lot of sense for her to try and graduate early. She was willing to do the work to get her advanced diploma, so I wanted to help her,” Lamb said.

Lamb believes that it is definitely possible for most people to graduate as juniors, especially if they begin high school classes as an eighth grader.

“Jaci is a really great student and a really smart girl. I figured that she had probably thought about it a lot and talked about it with her family a lot and it was just a decision that made sense for her. Whenever a student puts that much thought and planning into something and has really good perspective about that plan, then I usually support it,” Lamb said.

However, in contrast with McGranahan, Lamb believes that graduating early is not always the smartest option.

“I’m more cautious when students don’t have a plan or don’t have an idea of what they want to do after they get out. Jaci isn’t really one of the students that falls under that category, so I was supportive of her,” Lamb said.

Although McGranahan is leaving Lamb’s supervision, he still has hopes for her future.

“I hope that in the next steps of what she is planning to do that she would do it with confidence and excitement. I hope she enjoys her time as she transitions out of high school and pursues her education,” Lamb said. “My biggest hope is that she continues to learn about herself and her passions and the things that get her excited and help her grow and develop as a young lady. She’s going to do well in anything that she does. I hope that she keeps in touch too.”