Singley Academy’s Brooke Jones is walking across the graduation stage a year early with an extra diploma. In a mere three years, she has earned both her high school diploma and associate’s degree.
“This will give me a jumpstart on my goals,” said the 17-year-old, who will study pre-med at Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans. “I could have my bachelor’s degree by 19.”
Upon completion of her undergraduate studies, Jones plans to continue her education in medical school.
Jones joins classmates Steve Lomeli, Andreà Burks, Alberto Ramirez, Jasmine Lomeli, Hanna Sternadel, and Sergio Lopez who graduated from North Lake College with their associate’s degrees – two weeks before graduating from high school.
The group began their high school careers at Singley Academy and enrolled in the dual-credit program as freshmen and sophomores. In partnership with North Lake College, dual-credit classes are taught at the collegiate level, are tuition-free for Irving ISD students and enable students to receive both high school and college credit simultaneously.
“Giving our students greater access to higher education while in high school is a priority of Irving ISD and we are extremely grateful to North Lake College and President Slejko for their partnership,” said Superintendent of Schools Magda Hernandez. “As we look to the future, our goal is to expand this opportunity to all of our high school students in the district.”North Lake
College President Christa Slejko echoes these sentiments. “These outstanding Singley students exemplify exactly what we want for all of our dual-credit and Early College High School students. This is not an easy accomplishment at all, but with the help of Irving ISD and the Dallas County Promise, we hope to make this a viable tract for all students of Irving ISD. College graduation combined with high school graduation – a jump start to career success.”
