As the end of the year approaches and Seniors begin to prepare themselves for graduation, many other Juniors prepare themselves to take that walk to the stage along with those Seniors. Many high schools across America offer a path where if a student fulfills enough credits and completes enough classes, then that same student can graduate from high school early as a junior.

Many junior grads have to plan a path early on in their high school career to graduate early if they plan to do so. But, that would mean having to take their required courses along with extra classes and summer school courses. A good amount of juniors have been working towards graduating early, along with other freshmen and sophomores are working towards graduating as a junior.

Graduating early from high school as a Junior has a huge amount of benefits, including getting a head start on college courses and getting those extra college credits in, being able to have that extra time to themselves and research for college, and reducing costs for the college of choice for that junior grad.

But, at that same time, there are also some cons to graduating early along with these pros. Some of those cons include not being able to participate in sports, clubs, and extracurriculars. Because of the amount of time that junior grad has to spend on coursework, which could greatly impact the strength of college admissions, graduating early might also limit interactions with friends and peers, resulting in having weaker social bonds and experiences. The amount of coursework a junior grad has to complete at a faster pace may lead to a higher stress level and less time for personal interests or hobbies for that junior grad.

This article gives a summary and lists some of the pros and cons that come with graduating from high school early as a junior.

“I mainly just wanted to get out of high school at a good age because I’m 18 as a junior and I knew I was capable and smart enough to be a Junior grad,”Junior Shelby McCoy said.

Shelby McCoy is in great academic standing at MHS and has volunteered during the Christmas time at Churches in Mission in downtown Mooresville to help families in need.