Everyone is counting down for the last day of the fall semester. Especially the 64 students who don’t have to come back! Bob Jones is one of the few schools in Alabama that offers mid year completion for their seniors. Some may say that midyear completion is for the lazy students who don’t want to do anything for 8 months, but most of the people who are finishing early are doing something productive during the spring semester.
Midyear completion can be thought of as a reward for the all the tears, sighs, and groans school has put everyone through for 13 years. These students have worked hard to get to be finished in December. What many people do not know is that even though these students aren’t attending school in spring and aren’t enrolled, they are not considered graduated until May, when they walk the stage and receive their diploma. This means that these midyear grads still get to attend their senior activities such as senior picnic, breakfast, prom, and awards. Emma Montague, who will be preparing for dance auditions during the spring, says that she will definitely be at the senior activities if she is in town and isn’t too busy with dance. Which goes to show that the seniors who are the busiest still want to be involved with the school and activities.
Meredith Ward tells me about her plans after December, “I plan on getting a job and taking classes at Calhoun to get some credits out of the way.” This is in many students’ plans for the spring semester.
But, some students can’t do this due to scholarship constraints. Seth Haws explained to me how he is working in the spring and summer to save up money to help pay for college and that he could not take classes at Calhoun because that would effect a scholarship he received. With whatever plans these students have for the spring, it’ll definitely be easier than having to revolve all of that around high school!
Most students who are completing early have the same reason for doing so, “I don’t want to come to school if I don’t have to,” “I want to start getting my basic classes out of the way,” or even “I need to save up money for college.” Whichever reason a student’s might be, I know they will all miss Bob Jones greatly.
“I had a great experience here and I moved here as a new kid,” Meredith Ward remembers fondly. “Right away I felt at home and I didn’t have any problems making friends! I’m definitely going to miss Bob Jones.”
