Fall 2015 marked the largest class of seniors to graduate from Jackson High School after the first semester within the past six years.

In contrast to the typical 25 to 35 students to graduate early, this year's class included 47 seniors who had all the required credits and were ready to leave the high school.

To graduate early, students must have taken 24 credits, a course on government and four language-arts courses.

Jeremiah McGuire, 18, was one of the seniors who chose to graduate early. He made the decision because he didn't feel the need to finish his final semester. He needed to complete only two more credits' worth of classes during the first semester of his senior year to graduate.

"I just wanted to get out of there as fast as I could because I had already got all the credits I needed to," he said.

McGuire said he hopes to find a job, work and save up money until he begins school in the fall at Southeast Missouri State University.

McGuire said he would have taken more dual-credit courses at the high school if he had known earlier he was going to attend Southeast, but he was worried the credits wouldn't transfer wherever he eventually decided to attend. He recently decided to attend the university because he received the Regents' Scholarship.

He said graduating early has made him feel accomplished, and he would encourage other students to do so if they had an idea of what they would like to do outside of school.

"... If you have a plan and you are going to be doing something outside of school, like if you have a vision for what you're going to do with that semester, then yeah, I definitely think you should graduate early," McGuire said.

Graduating early isn't always as easy as it seems, though. Students such as Samantha Smiley, 18, say it takes extra effort and planning to hit the mark right to meet the graduation requirements.

"You have to double up some years. I started doubling up when I was a freshman. ... It's all about doubling up. Like, I didn't get to take home ec or food nutrition or rec games. I didn't get to do anything fun like that, so I had to work pretty hard," Smiley said.

Although it took hard work and determination, Smiley said she enjoyed her time in school and was able to take classes she enjoyed and is passionate about, such as Spanish. But she found her other classes didn't deliver the real-world experience and substance she craves.

"I felt like I was wasting a lot of time at school when I could've been at a job learning real-life experience as opposed to [subjects such as] pre-calculus," she said.

Smiley plans to attend Southeast in the fall and double-major in elementary education and Spanish, but until then, she plans to work her part-time jobs at Maurices at West Park Mall and Tractors Classic American Grill in Jackson, saving up money and spending time with her dog, Peyton.

"I've always been -- I keep myself as busy as I can. I like to work. I like to make my own money. I don't like to rely on my parents. It's not that they don't want to [pay for things]; it's just that I'd rather do it myself. It makes me feel really good," Smiley said.

She also has plans to visit Costa Rica this summer with a group of students from her high school.

Every year, the foreign-language department at Jackson takes trips out of the country and invites exceptional students to participate. Smiley was invited and was able to sign up for the last open spot to go to Costa Rica. She will be traveling around the country for nine days in July, beginning in San Jose.

"A lot of it's not like city, it's like we're kayaking or we're at a village or we're doing folklore and culture stuff. I'm just really excited to use the language somewhere other than my classroom," she said.

Smiley said being able to graduate early was convenient for her because she, like McGuire, felt she was wasting her time at the high school.

"By the time senior year rolled around, I was kind of burned out, and I don't think I missed out [by graduating early]. I definitely made the most out of my three and a half years in high school," Smiley said.

She said there are definite pros and cons to graduating early, but said she is satisfied with her choice.

Some notable cons she has noticed are being on her own and having to fend for herself in certain situations and not being involved in some of the activities her friends still in school are involved in.

She said being on her own could be helpful at times, though.

"There are pros to being alone because you get to explore on your own, and you can job-shadow -- you have a lot more time to do that, and a lot of places are going to be more willing to let you job-shadow if you have your diploma," Smiley said.

Derrick Peetz, 19, said he wanted to graduate at the end of the semester because he went on a yearlong exchange in Switzerland during the 2014-2015 school year and didn't receive any credits. Wanting to be finished as soon as possible, he graduated early to start working at the Outback Steakhouse in Cape Girardeau and saving up money before he starts school at the University of Arkansas in the fall.

Even though Peetz was ready to leave high school and is happy he graduated, he said some cons might make graduating early less of an option for other people, such as missing out on band, choral and sporting events and competitions.

He said he plans to take a few road trips this summer and would like to see the Smoky Mountains and the Rocky Mountains. He also plans to visit his sister in Denver during the spring.

Smiley said the large number of early graduates could be attributed to a variety of reasons, including starting college early, simply wanting to be done, wanting to travel or do other activities or wanting to join the military as soon as possible.

lyoung@semissourian.com

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