Three college grads will graduate high school tonight

By Kate McCardell

Published: May 30, 2008

As Malone High School seniors will celebrate the accomplishment of graduating tonight, three of its seniors will already be college graduates.

By participating in dual enrollment and early admission programs, Carly Barnes and Keyonis Shack are high school graduates who already hold AA degrees from Chipola College.

Malone senior Zeke Taylor will graduate high school armed with a workforce development certification in welding technology.

“To be able to graduate college by the time you finish your senior year of high school, you’ve got to put in the maximum effort. They’ve done very well. I’m proud of them,” said Haley Elerbey, the three students’ guidance counselor at Malone High School.

Elerbey said they are the first Malone students she knows of to graduate from college before their high school careers are officially over.

“They are the first we’ve had to graduate like this, but we have a large number of students who participate in dual enrollment. It’s kind of my pet project. It means a lot to me, given the price of tuition and books, that these kids are able to take the classes they want to take for free. They basically got a degree or certificate for free, but for the price of gas to get to school,” said Elerbey.

Barnes and Shack both participated in the dual enrollment program and then enrolled in early admission with Chipola College.

With dual enrollment, explained Elerbey, high school students from ninth grade and up can take up to 11 hours of their classes at the college, earning them college credits while simultaneously completing high school requirements.

Once a student becomes a senior, they are able to become early admitted into the college as a full-time student, taking all classes on the college campus.
“It is very difficult to accomplish, but this was their goal and it was important to me to help them accomplish it,” said Elerbey.

She said that for the workforce development certification, Taylor was required to make at least a 17 in English, an 18 in reading and a 19 in math on the ACT to enter the program. He logged about 400 hours of training in the program. He also took all of his elective classes at the college.

“Everyone says I do things backwards and I definitely did this backwards,” said Barnes.

Barnes said she’s always been a driven student.

“I’m a big believer that you shouldn’t waste your time,” said Barnes. “I try to be productive with whatever I do and I love school. I love a challenge and Chipola offered classes that interested me.”

She said her parents are proud by the accomplishment, which is made sweeter by the fact that her degree was virtually free.

“They think it’s cool. Neither one of my parents went to college. They’re both brilliant people, but just never had the opportunity to do what I have done. I think they’re glad to see that now people have opportunities like this,” said Barnes.

Barnes is currently the president of the Malone Future Farmers of America.

She’s one of only two candidates in line for vice president of Area I for the Florida FFA, and will find out June 13 if she’s voted into the state office.

If she’s named vice president, she’ll take a year off of school and serve the FFA, which includes going to Spain and seeing the farming system in Europe.

If she’s not elected, or when she’s done with her term, Barnes said she plans to attend the University of Florida.

She wants to be a public relations specialist for an agricultural agency or organization.

“I love agriculture. I have a passion for it and they need people who can speak on behalf of the agriculture industry. Why not represent an industry that I find extremely important?” said Barnes.

Keyonis Shack said she’s always been enamored with school.

“No one ever had to really make me do anything. I always wanted to make good grades,” said Shack.

She said dual enrollment was something she knew she would do, and that Elerbey was the one who directed her toward early admission into Chipola.

“She was like a mom that way. She really led me. She’s just the best counselor,” said Shack, who spoke on the phone form her job as a clinical assistant at Sunland.
Shack plans to attend Florida A&M University and become a pharmacist.

She said that getting so far ahead took some sacrifice, but was well worth it.

“It’s definitely been a compromise. I mean, there are certain events at high school that you miss out on. You may not get to run for office for any extra curricular activities. But on the other hand, you get a lot of college out of the way and it’s a degree you don’t have to pay for. I’d say that’s worth it.”