Samantha Garcia/Staff Writer
If you are, or were, an undergrad within the last ten years, chances are you’ve been taking your college classes alongside high schoolers.
Yes, high school students – well, specifically juniors and seniors.
Academy for Advanced Academics is a full-time dual enrollment program at FIU that recruits juniors and seniors who excel academically. This selective program offers students the opportunity to obtain their Associate of Arts, which counts for the first two years of a bachelor’s degree, by taking two to three AP classes per year and three to four college classes per semester. By the time they receive their high school diploma, they also receive an associate’s degree.
This program is possibly the best thing that has come across my academic life. I had been in the Cambridge program in my traditional high school, and under no circumstances had I ever pictured myself writing for my local University’s newspaper.
While in G. Holmes Braddock Senior High School, my dream school had been Florida State University. Being in AAA opened my eyes to the wider scope of academic excellence, opening doors like “Harvard,” “Brown,” and “Dartmouth” for me. In fact, belonging in this program alone gives me the upper hand when applying to college, just because it looks great on paper.
Being in AAA also saves you bucket loads of money. The program pays for everything, from University tuition down to all the books you need for your classes. I also have the freedom to take classes in any field I wish; this saves me the trouble of wasting time and money switching majors later when I’d actually have to pay for classes.
However, it’s an insane amount of work, not to mention the AP classes are ten times harder than the University classes. But in the end, the struggles, mental breakdowns and endless amounts of caffeine consumed are worth it.
The tight-knit family of students this program brings together lets us grow through the hardships and stress we face. Everybody needs a shoulder to cry on when you’re dealing with finals season, college application and scholarship deadlines, a project for AP Calculus, AP exams, and the gradebook closing soon.
Mental stability who? Don’t know her.
Whereas in a traditional high school I would be limited to speaking to teachers and students, my horizons have broadened at FIU. I’m free to debate with a professor, walk into PantherNow and ask to write for their newspaper, intern with Student Government, work part-time at the Women’s Center, or simply absorb the ambition and wisdom that those around me, who have more experience, have to offer. I enjoy learning from other people and their past, and FIU’s diversity provides the perfect environment to do so.
I also have the opportunity to join any FIU clubs I desire. Initially, the Pre-Law club at FIU caught my eye, but the expensive club fees disillusioned me. Paying two-hundred dollars for a club every semester is simply unrealistic for my financial state. So I started my own Pre-Law club at AAA. I genuinely believe that when one truly wants something, they don’t stop until they attain it. So I got it.
Now, as President of Pre-Law and Rho Kappa, I enjoy the wonderful burden of planning, organizing, training and funding everything. Our club supervisors simply do that: supervise. It’s one of the ways this program makes you more independent and mature prematurely.
Although AAA is extremely stressful and will make you age ten years in a couple of hours, it’s undeniably beneficial. We often conceal our identities because nobody wants to know they’re going to college with high schoolers. College kids often hit us with, “Oh, you’re in high school?” and then ghost us. We also keep our identities hidden from professors because, more often than not, they’re teaching higher level education to stay away from high schoolers.
But although we hide in the shadows, we’re not afraid to stand out. We’re everywhere and nowhere. We’re AAA.
Featured photo from FIU Flickr.
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The opinions presented within this page do not represent the views of PantherNOW Editorial Board. These views are separate from editorials and reflect individual perspectives of contributing writers and/or members of the University community.
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