Who Attends Early College High School?

By Fletcher Word
Sojourner’s Truth Editor

There are currently 144 students at the Early College High School in the freshman and sophomore classes. Of that number, 105 are girls and only 39 are boys – 82 are African-American, nine are Latino, 50 are white and there are three “others.”

“I didn’t do well at first,” says sophomore Troy Wiley. He’s turned that around. Now Troy is doing well in all of his subjects although he admits that math is still a major challenge. Troy will have to continue to improve in math, and the sciences, because he wants to be an architect and “they need a lot of science,” he acknowledges. “I have always had a dream of building my parents a nice home,” he says.

Troy Wiley

How has he turned around those early difficulties?

“It takes a lot of hard work and initiative,” says Troy. “If you can’t stay with it, it won’t work out.”
 

Brandy Cranon is in her first year at Early College having attended Horizon Science Academy last year. Her big classroom challenge has been biology – “that’s my worst subject, so I study it most so I can get better.”

Math, on the other hand, is Brandy’s favorite.

Why did she choose to attend Early College?

“There are many opportunities and I am used to doing advanced work,” she says. “I wanted to attend a school where teachers care. They are really interested in us – they take the extra time to help.”

Tyler Stone is in her second year at the school and the second year has proved to be the charm for the sophomore. “This year has been a lot easier than the first year,” she says. “There is a lot of work and then I was away from my friends. The toughest part – with all that work – was having to develop the time management skills to get it done.”

Brandy Cranon

Tyler’s favorite subject is English, a subject she hopes to major in when she moves on to college full time. “I want to be an editor and a lot of other things such as screenwriting and creative writing.”

Going to Early College was not completely Tyler’s idea, at least not initially. “At first it was my mother’s idea, but when I got there and figured out how good an opportunity it was, I opened up.”

Antonio Mitchell is a first year student. He arrived at Early College from Rosary Cathedral. “I like it a lot, but it’s hard,” he says referring specifically to biology and math. But for Antonio, there is no getting around those subjects. He wants to be either a doctor or a meteorologist so excelling in math and science is absolutely essential to achieve his goals.

As with the other students we spoke to, going to Early College left Antonio feeling a bit abandoned because his childhood friends went off in other directions – just another aspect of the early struggle for a number.

Since Antonio is one of a few boys at Early College, we asked him to address the issue of why so few of his male peers have opted to join him in the rigorous curriculum. “Because girls mature faster than boys,” he says without the slightest bit of hesitation. “Girls at this age are more focused on their school work.”
 

Tyler Stone

There were a number of common threads running through the observations from the Early College students – the need to acquire time management and study skills, the thrill of succeeding at the academic challenges the school presents, the opportunities they envision because of their attendance.

But the stress of that early period of adjustment caused by a quantum leap in the academic degree of difficulty was a topic they addressed repeatedly. “I knew it would be hard and difficult,” says Brandy Cranon. “But it was harder than I had expected.” But Brandy has persevered. So have they all. “Now I’m catching up and getting there,” she says.

Antonio Mitchell

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