The school year is only half over for most students, as some LHS seniors are deciding to graduate at semester, while others will be staying all year. 

Jada Figueora is one out of 16 senior students graduating early. She has earned the sufficient amount of credits needed in order to graduate before the second semester of the 2022–2023 year. 

Figueora has been working hard since her freshman year at LHS, in and out of the building. She expected to be graduating early, so the extra work she has put into school has paid off. 

“All I did was work hard since freshman year. With that, I also got credits every year for working with the ‘Work for Credit’ so now I’m able to graduate a semester early,” said Figueora.

“Work for credit” is when working a regular job can be beneficial in many ways. It can help students get paid, while also helping them academically as well. It is for students like Figueora who are on the coast of having enough credits to graduate early.

“Right now I work at Pancheros, but for the majority of high school I worked at McDonald’s,” said Figueora.

Figueora does not have a plan on what she wants to do for her future, however she feels that she needs the time of the gap semester to figure that out. 

“I’m going to USD for Applied Physics. I just don’t know what I’m going to do with that,” said Figueora.

For some seniors, high school is a chapter in their lives that they will miss. For Figueora, she is eager to be leaving, and is hoping to one day pursue her dream job.

“My dream job is to go into nuclear engineering, but that’s pretty expensive,” said Figueora.

However, for LHS senior Ian Olivier, his plans are different. Olivier has decided to stick out the year at LHS even though he could have had the opportunity to graduate early.

Olivier plans on going to collage in or out of town, to study biology and attend med school.

“I would like to attend either Duke or Augustana, to study Biology and attend med school,” said Olivier.

Olivier could have taken the classes nessesary to graduate early, however he decided it would make his highschool experience more enjoyable if he took more layed back classes, while still earning the credits nessesary to graduate at the same time as many do.

“I’ve thought about graduating early, but I value spending time with friends and taking  more fun and relaxed schedule more then getting a semester done early,” said Olivier.

To Olivier, there are many benefits to staying the whole year when highschool is coming to an end, hence many of the reasons he decided to stay.

“You get extra time to hang out with your friends and other people you know in sports and other events, and if I would have graduated early I would have missed out on these last memories we get to make before everyone goes their seperate ways after high school,” said Olivier