Bellevue College Student, 17, Celebrates College Degree and High School Diploma on the Same Day

BELLEVUE, WA -- Friday will be a special day for student Michelle Fredrickson, 17, because she will earn her associate's degree and her high school diploma on the same day.

Fredrickson, a student journalist, wrote in an essay in Bellevue College's The Watchdog about how she reached that goal:

Because I’m a Running Start student, I did my last two years of high school at BC (partly, anyway. I myself did a half-and-half scale. Three classes at BC, two at high school plus senior projects). So I knocked out two years of college while in high school. It’s great because it’s two fewer years that I have to pay for at a university and it gives me an opportunity to expand my educational horizons way farther than I would’ve at my high school.

Fredrickson is part of Running Start, a statewide program that allows high school students to earn college credit at community colleges. 

Make sure to read the rest of Fredrickson's terrific essay in The Watchdog for a first-hand account of how a student juggles her high school and college programs:

I have an insatiable love of learning and I’m stuffing my brain as fast as it can handle the information. It may be a crazy time of year but I’m actually enjoying it quite a lot! I feel like I can handle it and the more I handle it the more I can learn.

Many Running Start students, like Fredrickson, have enough college credits earn an associate's degree and get a high school diploma by the time they are high school seniors.

Commencement at Bellevue College is Friday at 7 p.m.

Read about more terrific young people in Bellevue in our .

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