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It all started with senioritis. No, no, not the AARP kind, the kind that plagues graduating high school seniors toward the end of their grade school tenure, when the pencils are dull, the books are boring and the teachers’ dirty looks are, sadly, dismissible.
In 1955, the University of Connecticut, seeing an increasing number of freshmen coming ill-prepared to their opening collegiate year, interpreted senioritis as a higher education problem to solve, not something high school administration needed to fix. UConn’s then Provost Albert Waugh, believed if seniors could enroll in more challenging, rigorous coursework while still in high school, the prevalent disinterest in learning would, at least, be postponed. Thus, dual enrollment was born.
In execution, dual enrollment is the opportunity to take (and ideally, pass) one class and have the credit(s) count toward both a high school diploma and a college degree or certificate. In 1999, as more and more institutions were buying into the concept as a marvelous idea, the National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships (NACEP) was founded. Quoting from nacep.org, it is “the only national organization supporting programs, practitioners and policy to advance concurrent and dual enrollment programs.”
College Commencement First
Raigen Clark of Narrows took advantage of such a program locally. And — wait for it — she graduated from New River Community College on May 14, 2025, with an associate’s degree in general studies, before she graduated from Narrows High School on May 30, 2025. The two fell ceremoniously, and coincidently, in flip-flopped order.
“I first realized I could graduate from NRCC before high school when playing a rival my junior year in a tennis match. She couldn’t come to a scheduled match because she was going to walk at their local community college’s commencement. I decided then that I wanted to make this my goal,” Clark explains.
While the opportunity to take college-level courses in high school isn’t new, the choices can be limited. As a rising junior, Clark only had two online history courses and two in-person English classes to choose from. If there was interest in adding more classes, a student would have to enroll in them independently and pay for them.
“The biggest challenge for me was figuring out how I was going to be able to do it,” she says, referring to extracurricular interests like scouts, basketball, volleyball, tennis, cheerleading, softball and track.
With her self-appointed finish line in mind, Clark worked diligently on an enrollment plan for her final two years of high school with NRCC advisors, the Giles High School principal and the Narrows High School counselor and principal, along with a close family friend who serves on the school board. During her junior and senior years, she took 11 online classes and 10 in-person classes at NRCC, alongside a full-time curriculum at NHS. On top of that, during her senior year she rounded out her diploma with concurrent classes at Giles High. All coursework earned an impressively high passing score.
Benefits and Challenges
There are numerous benefits to dual enrollment, namely the early exposure to college life, interacting with professors, learning alongside older students, and taking complete ownership of scholarly input for the first time. The independence to dabble in a variety of coursework, in a more financially-controlled environment, can help dampen costly indecision later (i.e., well-used change major forms).
However, the biggest pro can also be the most challenging con. It takes a confident amount of self-awareness to understand whether the “kill two birds with one stone” approach to education is the right route. Frontloading the last year or two of high school with additional academic responsibilities can be very stressful. Time away from beloved, familiar social circles might feel isolating and trigger a good case of FOMO (fear of missing out). Dual enrollment requires immaculate time management skills and the ability to balance homework, friends, family, extracurriculars, and, often, employment.
Clark hopes to continue her education with a bachelor’s degree from University of Alabama’s public health program. She is planning to follow that with the long game to attend medical school and become a dermatologist or a dermatologist’s physician’s assistant.
“Getting an associate’s degree is a great opportunity while in high school for so many reasons,” she offers. “Why not knock it out as early as possible? Or if you are going to attend a 4-year university, it’s great to be able to transfer credits and lessen the time you spend working toward another degree. This can be a great way to save money, too, she adds.
On that note, if you have a 4-year university in mind, make sure it will accept the credits you are carrying in with you. Not all admissions panels are created equal. It would have been a bummer to have missed out on that last school dance or party at the moon tower for naught.
Text by Nancy S. Moseley
Photos courtesy of the Clark family
Nancy S. Moseley is a freelance writer who’s super thankful dual enrollment was *not* a popularized option in high school. She had enough trouble getting to and from extracurricular activities, let alone taking on curricular responsibilities from more than one school.
