A College Degree Before a High School Diploma

College Credit Plus allows 41 teens to graduate from Tri-C before finishing high school

Spring commencement at Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C^®) will serve as a cap-and-gown dress rehearsal for 41 teens earning a college degree or certificate before graduating from high school.

The students attended Tri-C through Ohio’s College Credit Plus program. The dual enrollment system allows students to earn college credits while meeting high school graduation requirements.

The following College Credit Plus students, listed by hometown, earned degrees or certificates at Tri-C this spring. Students in bold earned both an Associate of Arts degree and an Associate of Science degree.

Bedford: Tyzha Gunn, Avandre Sayles and Deandra Washington

Bedford Heights: Alexis McKeller

Brooklyn: Micayla Reyes

Brunswick: Tyler-Lynne Gittinger

Cleveland: Ashanti Black, Nathan Cabot, Kevin Daniel, Shakora Davis, Angelica Hairston, DonayJa Harris, Abigail Hausman, Erin Hayward, Josue Mondragon, Marco Orozco, Ibrahim Othman, Madison Patterson and Jasline Rosario

Cleveland Heights: Kyra Sears

Columbia Station: Kirby Copper

Euclid: David Jackson

Independence: Holly Stralka

Maple Heights: Taviana Carr and Diamond Williams

Medina: Michael Clark, Julianne Finley and Nicholas Moore

North Olmsted: Kara Mincik

North Royalton: Anton Krieger

Parma: Deanna Haas, Evan Lang and Christopher Rush

Parma Heights: David Kropinak Jr. and Pavlo Paramashchuk

Seven Hills: Caitlin Lee

Shaker Heights: Jasmine Pipkins

Strongsville: Giovanni Dushaw, Salina Mikityuk, Vivian Sanek and Jordyn Wolfe

Ohio debuted College Credit Plus in 2015 to improve educational attainment and career readiness for young residents while strengthening the bridge between high school and higher education.

The goal is to reduce the time and expense of earning a college degree. State education dollars pay for the program, meaning there is little or no cost for participating students and their families.

College Credit Plus students at Tri-C studied their way to nearly 36,000 college credits during the 2016-2017 academic year — tops in Ohio, according to the most recent state report on the program. Those credits carried a tuition value of more than $3.7 million.

The program is open to teens in grades seven through 12 who are academically ready for more rigorous coursework. 

Tri-C’s Spring Commencement will begin at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 17, at Cleveland State University’s Wolstein Center, located at 2000 Prospect Ave. in Cleveland. The Class of 2018 is one of the largest in the College’s history.

May 15, 2018

John Horton, 216-987-4281 john.horton@tri-c.edu