Huntsville Leader

Calhoun Community College is excited to announce that dual enrollment student, Lucas Hasting, has met the requirements to graduate this next week.

Many people are probably confused as to how 18-year old Lucas Hasting of Decatur, AL, will walk across the stage to receive an Associate of Applied Science degree with a concentration in Cyber Security and Information Technology from Calhoun before he receives his high school diploma. How is that possible? Well, it’s simple, and it’s called dual enrollment.

“While sitting in my advanced freshman English class at Austin High School, we were told by our teacher that representatives of Calhoun Community College wanted to speak with us,” commented Hasting. “My classmates and I assumed it was just general information in regards to attending the college after graduation, but that wasn’t the case. The representative explained how we could attend college while going to school at the same time. I was already enrolled in AP courses, but this was different. They explained that the college courses we would be taking could be used towards a degree and that not only could I finish high school with an advanced diploma with my AP courses, but I could also receive a college degree. At that point, I was sold,” said Hasting.

Calhoun’s Dual Enrollment/Dual Credit program allows eligible high school students to enroll in college courses concurrently with their high school classes. Students have the option to attend these classes at their high schools or one of Calhoun’s college campuses, and they receive both high school and college credit for those courses. “We can’t stress enough to parents and students how important and vital it is to understand what an awesome program this is,” commented Gwen Baker, Calhoun’s Dual Enrollment Director. “Not only are you helping your child to advance, but they could enter into the workforce with a great paying career at 18 and little to no student loan debt at all,” added Baker.

Hasting enrolled at Calhoun in the summer of 2020 and began taking our free Python course. He wasn’t quite sure what he wanted to major in as he was still a high school student thinking about college. After completing a research paper for one of his high school classes, he decided he wanted to pursue a Computer Information Systems degree as he loves Cyber Security.

“I knew how important this would be for not only my high school goals but also my future career in Cyber Security. So I set aside time throughout the day to concentrate on completing my college work for the week in advance and kept up with any other tasks by keeping lists,” says Hasting. “It wasn’t too hard for me. I would say the hardest part was when I entered my junior year of high school and I had to take AP Computer Science A, which required more work outside of class. It became difficult to juggle those projects, but I am proud to say, I made it through,” he added.

Hasting will participate in Calhoun’s graduation ceremony at the Von Braun Center on May 12th where he will receive his college degree and will receive his high school diploma from Austin High School on May 24th.

To learn more about Calhoun’s Dual Enrollment Program, visit www.calhoun.edu/dualenrollment.

Original source can be found here.