With the school year coming to an end, so is this year’s senior class of Early College Academy (ECA) students. Seniors who have been in this program since they were juniors have to say goodbye to ECA and hello to life. Seniors of ECA at Abraham Lincoln this year include: Lillian Bates, Vallerie Clark, Kaley Coffee, Brody Coffman, Emma Jedlicka, Aley Johnson, Colten Kemp, Ashlin McColha, Grannt Parrot, Konnor Parrot, Alex Valdez Perez, Alexis Poole, Dean Pope, Merit Twin, and Kaci Wholers.
All ECA seniors have been on this journey since they applied as sophomores, and got in as juniors with Thomas Jefferson. A lot of seniors are graduating and going to prestigious 4 year colleges, including senior Dean Pope.
Dean said what he is going to miss most about ECA is, “My friends. Lots of them are going to other schools. They’re not all going to Iowa State. And I’ll miss Dr. Matthews because he’s been such a big help. He is actually someone you can go to and just talk to and just have a genuine conversation with to figure stuff out, and he’s always there to support you, and he’ll always be in your corner hoping for what’s best for you,” said Pope. “It’s really just the people.”
Vallerie (Vall) Clark, who was “essentially nominated in my sophomore year,” shares what she enjoyed most about ECA.
“One of the things I enjoyed the most being in ECA is having fellow classmates also be in the class so we were able to have our own tutoring meets, and we can work together to figure stuff out together instead of us relying on different actual community college students.”
Kaci Wohlers, an ECA senior, who is also in JROTC, has some regrets about ECA.
“My biggest regret while in ECA was probably not taking more fun classes,” said Wohlers. “I took classes for my degree, but I did not take that many fun classes. I did not take that many fun classes because I just wanted to go fast through it. And here I am incredibly bored. So I wish I took more fun classes.”
Alex Valdez Perez said ECA helped him discover a personal trait to improve upon.
“The biggest lesson I learned while being in ECA is time management is probably what you should focus the most on. If you don’t manage your time, you’ll probably fall behind in a lot of classes and that’s not a good thing when you’re trying to get an associate’s degree from ECA.”
Everyone had a great time in ECA this year, from the friends they made to the classes they took. We can all conclude the things these ECA seniors loved the most are the people, the amazing opportunity to be in ECA, and Dr. Matthews. As for words of advice from our graduating seniors, here they are:
“Listen to Dr. Matthews, very much so. And start applying for scholarships in your junior year as soon as you can.” -Dean
“My words of advice to new joining members is to have a notebook and pencil with you always, figure out how to take notes.” -Kaci
“Remember to study, don’t skip classes, and find your group of people to study with. Also make flashcards. Flashcards are going to be one of the most important things ever.” -Vall
“For new members in ECA, I recommend them to think outside of the box,” said Perez. “I feel like everyone should make friends, everybody should be able to accomplish things that’s not in their comfort zone, maybe be a bit more of a risk taker.”
Goodluck and farewell, Seniors!
