As the end of first semester is wrapping up, some students will be moving in a different direction for the following semester.  

Eligible students are those who finish their 24 credits before the 8th semester and meet all the appropriate graduation requirements by taking summer and night school classes to boost up their credits significantly. In a survey of 10 Morton East students, five of them said that the benefit of graduating early is that they can get a head-start in college and get a job to earn money. Currently, the total number of early graduates at Morton East is eight students.  

Graduating early gives one the opportunity to plan with more time. This gives a focus on the next steps that they would want to take. 

“You can start focusing more on your future than at work from school,” Senior America Zarate said. 

Many students have different views about graduating early- most of the time, it is not an easy step. 

“Although a bit overwhelming, I’m excited to make my way out of high school. It’s a little saddening to move on from a place I’ve done and learned a lot from, but it’s part of life and eventually, everybody will have to move on from it as well. Only in my case, it just so happened to be a bit earlier,” Senior Celeste Retana said. 

Early graduating students have different reasons for leaving early and it changes throughout their high school years. 

“Initially, I chose to graduate early because I wanted to be in a different environment. I’ve had the idea of graduating early since last school year, and the idea of it was pushed further because I lost a couple of friends, I wasn’t feeling myself lately, and I used that as motivation to keep moving forward. I had the time to put in the extra work and it was a great opportunity to do something beneficial for myself,” Senior Celeste Retana said. 

Graduating has a lot of work to do with it, but many say it is worth it.   

“I would only recommend graduating early if you are up to doing all the extra work. It wasn’t easy and it was very time-consuming. A change of environment is a good challenge to overcome,” Senior Celeste Retana said. 

While leaving high school comes with ups, some students will be feeling down as they leave.  

“I’ve learned something new every school year and I will miss the people that I was friends with. There are teachers in the school who’ve inspired me a lot and I will always be grateful for them. I feel like I’m also going to miss the old, pointless drama that had me stressed out, but looking back, it was something that made my time in high school pass by quicker. It’s hard to pick out which teachers I’m going to miss, but I can say that they’ve all done something for me. As much as I’m sad to move on and away from the friends I’ve made, I’m happy to know that I’m going to be doing something that I like to do.” Senior Celeste Retana said.  

With the semester coming to an end, so is the high school journey for some. We wish you all happy holidays and a safe break! Grow strong!