How about earning a FREE associate degree while in high school

When I hear about something good, something positive, I like to share that information.

- Thera Martin

Keshema Davidson from the Early College Charter School, which opens next fall, is seen here at a recent Philadelphia School District High School Fair, talking with a parent and student about the school.

And right about now, with the ongoing government shutdown and so many Americans across the nation feeling the crunch, from government workers who’ve been laid off, to people who depend on SNAP to help feed their families, and all kinds of people in between who are impacted, I think we could use a little bit of good news right about now.

Let me back up half an inch. I was one of those people who was blessed to be admitted into an Early Admissions program for college when I was about to enter my senior year of high school. Not all colleges offer that program, but many do. During my senior year of high school, rather than attending classes at Ancilla Domini Academy for Girls, which was formerly located in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, at 700 East Church Lane, I was attending college classes and living on campus at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, located in Menomonie, Wisconsin. You couldn’t tell me anything. Surely I thought I had “arrived.” At the age of 17, I found myself enrolled in college. How I ended up at a university in Wisconsin is a story for another article, but the goal here is to emphasize that I understand how valuable it can be for a young person to enroll in college classes, even while still in high school. That’s what really gives our young people a taste of college life and often inspires them to enroll in college.