Graduation times two: DeQuincy student earns high school, college degrees same year
She is graduating from DeQuincy High School after her senior year with the rest of her peers. She has also earned an associate of general studies from Sowela Technical Community College. During her junior and senior years, Richard took college courses through Calcasieu Parish School Board's Virtual Instruction Program.
VIP offers dual enrollment courses taught virtually from the Region 5 STEM Center. The classes stream to each of the district's 11 high schools. The program is a boon for smaller campuses like DeQuincy, which has a total enrollment of 376.
Her junior year, she took criminal justice, inter-criminal law, statistics, and English composition I and II through VIP, in addition to college courses through McNeese State University. Her senior year she took trigonometry, calculus, fiction, mythology, introduction to environmental science, introduction to theater, introduction to acting and psychology.
Including Sowela and McNeese courses, advanced placement classes and CLEP, Richard has earned 70 hours of college credit, and that wasn't all she did.
She was the class president in her junior and senior years and student council vice president. Richard also participated in 'basically every extracurricular,' including the library club and National Beta Club.
All of this was done while maintaining a 4.52 GPA.
'It was definitely a lot of work, but it was so worth it to be able to continue my high school experience,' she said. 'It was especially tough for finals week and everything when I have four or five finals a semester, and I'm also balancing normal high school things.'
The trick to bearing the weight of the coursework is to start off slow, she said.
'I wouldn't take on too much to start with because you need to get used to the course load before you build on it. … My senior year I picked up a lot more courses because I knew I could handle it.'
Aside from the obvious benefit of earning college credit in high school, she said the VIP program also helped her boost her GPA and granted her wider access to scholarships and resources that will help support her while she is completing college.
Richard plans to earn a law degree from Louisiana State University. LSU Law's 3 + 3 program allows students to complete their bachelor's degree in three years. After their junior year, students apply for admission to LSU Law Center. If accepted, the students' final year at LSU is simultaneously the final year of their undergraduate degree and the first year of their law degree.
'If my schedule aligns perfectly, I will be able to graduate from law school in four years,' she explained. 'I am so excited that it will allow me to get so far ahead and that I will be able to go into my career so much sooner than I expected.
'I have always enjoyed debating and research and those kinds of topics, and I really think that law will be a good fit for me.'
She intends to specialize in corporate law and business.
Sowela's 61st Commencement ceremony is at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, May 20, at the Lake Charles Event Center. There, Richard will graduate alongside 374 other students. Phillips 66 Lake Charles Manufacturing Complex General Manager Scot Tyler will give the commencement address.
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