Ahead of Pace: Earning a College Degree Before a High School Diploma

81 College Credit Plus students graduated from Tri-C in 2020 before finishing high school

Graduating from college before high school? Eighty-one teens attending Cuyahoga Community College (Tri-C^®) made that seemingly out-of-order statement a reality in 2020. 

Each student earned an associate degree or certificate from Tri-C this year 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 during the past year. They will be among more than 4,700 graduates honored at the College’s 2020 Fall Commencement. 

Avon: Daliah Kassim

Bay Village: Jake Mlakar

Bedford Heights: Thomas Hailey, Shabrionna Fadzl

Berea: Madison Thomas

Brecksville: Parker Owen, Roger Tascar

Broadview Heights: Clorise Busch

Brunswick: Trinity Coughlin, Jennifer Drum, Leah Gluck, Sarah Gluck, Julia Partem, Hope Stasik

Cleveland: Nina Abercrombie, Syed Ahmed, Carla Ayala, Charlie Ayala, Nyandia Ballah, David Byrne, Sydney Chavis, Torian Ellison, Joshua Hill, Meiyah Hill, Kailey Laws, Zariah Mitchell, Kayla Ontko, Noel Pacheco, Bre-Ann Phillips, Andrea Sawyer, Anthony Soos, Taniya Williams 

Cleveland Heights: Maya Ford, Arienna Hauser-Brown, Laila Shotwell 

East Cleveland: Ciera Gambrell 

Euclid: Madison Crenshaw 

Fairview Park: Isabella Kolodny, Julia Polyak 

Garfield Heights: Gabriela Irvine

Highland Heights: Rysheen Hooks-Keck 

Hinckley: David Woodall 

Lakewood: William Yeung 

Maple Heights: Alexis Rogers 

Medina: Kaydee Clark, Allen Kirlough, Brandon Schramm, Jordan Waddell 

Middleburg Heights: Mary Hiros, Alayna Soukup 

North Olmsted: Yousef Mustafa, Alexander Strekal 

North Ridgeville: Alexander Pickens 

North Royalton: Marko Krieger 

Olmsted Falls: Reilly Boros 

Olmsted Township: Cristina Honchuk 

Parma: Joseph Kensicki, Mason Kopy, Irene Penkalskiy, Andrew Yarmolyuk

Parma Heights: Solomiia Dmytrenko, Anna Marsick 

Pepper Pike: Aya Adhami 

Richfield: Jonathan Gum 

Richmond Heights: Amber Bennett, Kendall Phillips 

Rocky River: Grace Gascoigne                        

Sagamore Hills: Michael Farrar 

Seven Hills: Lauren Lee, Mark Maguth 

Seville: Jenna Gooch 

Shaker Heights: Sydney Scott 

Solon: Isabel Ruiz Flint 

South Euclid: Shalea Williams 

Strongsville: Giorgio Dushaw, Makayla Glenn, Jessica Larson, Shahzeb Malik, Lyle Rijos, Mahmood Sabieh, Jenna Yasin 

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 40,000 college credits during the 2018-2019 academic year, according to the most recent state report on the program. Those credits carried a tuition value of more than $4.5 million. 

The program is open to teens in grades seven through 12 who are academically ready for more rigorous coursework. For more information, visit tri-c.edu/college-credit-plus.

December 15, 2020

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