By MARISSA WOOLARD

For the Washington Daily News

 

With graduation season fast approaching, the graduates of the Beaufort County Early College High School are on their way to the next chapter of their lives.

Among the 61 graduates, 35 of them are attending a four-year university, seven are attending two years of community college, 14 plan to go straight to employment when they graduate, and five are going into the military.

Beaufort County Early College High School graduates have been awarded more than $2,247,000 from 30 college and universities. The total amount of scholarship and grant monies from universities that the graduates were awarded is $1,184,801.

Graduate Jessica Williams has been awarded a total of $5,867.50 in scholarships. Williams earned an Associate in Arts and Associate in Science along with her high school diploma at the Early College. She will be transferring to East Carolina University as a sophomore to major in math education, specifically secondary-math education. Williams plans to graduate with a bachelor’s in math education and a bachelor’s in mathematics, then work toward a master’s degree in math education while teaching high school math.

“Overall, attending the Early College has been the best decision in my life,” Williams said. “I have been able to experience so much more than at a typical high school. During my years at Early College, I have completed over 1,000 hours of community service by volunteering in math classes. This is what truly made me decide I wanted to teach math. Early College has truly prepared me for my future. I cannot wait to see what the future holds, all I know is that it will be bright!”

Another student who is excited for what’s to come is Tabitha Gardner, who was accepted to N.C. State University. In total, Gardner has received a little more than $50,000 in scholarships so far. At graduation Friday, she will receive her high school diploma, as well as an Associate in Arts and in Science.

At N.C. State, she’ll be studying engineering, focusing on industrial engineering, which was the first field in engineering that caught her attention. Gardner said taking the next steps have proven to be a learning experience, and credits a wide support group of Early College teachers and friends who helped her through the process, especially when some opportunities did not work out as expected.

“This time in my life has been a lot to handle, but I have been really blessed throughout the whole process,” Gardner said. “ … Overall, I have to thank God because he allowed for everything to work together for my good.”

Gardner and Williams will graduate at 7 p.m. Friday with their 59 classmates at the Beaufort County Early College High School’s Building 10.