Ashley Barnes, a 17-year-old DCHS senior, will become the first DeKalb County student in history to earn a college degree before graduating high school when she receives her diploma Friday.
Barnes graduated from Motlow State community college with a two-year associate’s degree in general studies on May 10
“I've been taking college classes since I was 14. I started in the summer my freshman year. A few classes here, a few classes there, and after four years of doing that every summer and every semester they begin to add up,” Barnes told the Review.
“At the beginning of my senior year we started calculating and I was like. wow, I can graduate with a degree. I have 63 college credit hours. You must have 60 to get an associate’s degree.
Barnes has already chosen the next phase of her education.
“I'm going to be attending a University in Circe Arkansas called Harding University,” she said. “It’s a Church of Christ private Christian college. I'm going to be double majoring in biochemistry and leadership and Bible admissions. Hopefully, since I already have two years complete, I'm hoping to get that degree in two more years and then go for four years of graduate school studying the pharmaceutical sciences.”
Barnes said she would like to thank everyone who helped make her accomplishment possible.
“Mr. (Mark) Willoughby (director Of Schools), Mr. (Patrick) Cripps (DCHS principal) and Ms. Jamie Wright (DCHS site coordinator for online learning) have all been such a blessing.  Ms. Jamie has been a great deal of help. Mr. Cripps and Mr. Willoughby gave me the approval to do this during school hours.” she shared. “I drove from the high school to TTU five days a week to take my classes. They've been such a help scheduling classes and and giving me the permission to do this. They've also giving me great moral support. I couldn’t have done it without them.