High school student earns associate degree, IT certificate before graduation

Ammanuela Antoine is raising the bar.

The 17-year-old worked hard throughout the pandemic to obtain her high school diploma and associate degree simultaneously. Despite shifting to all online courses this year, she said she was motivated to push through.
 
Antoine decided to take biology and psychology courses at Durham Tech while attending high school because she wanted to have an edge on her college applications and take higher level courses that would help to increase her weighted GPA. She did exactly that and will be graduating from Durham Tech with a 4.0 GPA for the IT certificate and a 3.8 GPA for her associate degree.

“The overall experience of taking classes at Durham Tech has been beneficial for me, as I feel more prepared for the course load that a four-year university will present. I also was able to understand and go through the process of registering for courses and planning a schedule, which will definitely help me when it comes time to do that for a four-year university this fall,” said Antoine. 

Her days would start early as she prepared for classes, attended classes, studied and completed assignments which would end her days late and sometimes leave her with less than five hours of sleep, she said. 

“It was definitely difficult to accomplish what I have, since in order to complete the degree and certificate along with my high school education I had to give up sleep, my social activities, and my overall mental health and well-being,” said Antoine.

Antoine is one of five students to earn an associate degree before graduating at New Tech High School since the program began.

She became the first New Tech student to earn both a degree and certificate. She also graduates as her high school class salutatorian.

“As her College liaison, I am honored to have met and worked with such an outstanding student. I can't express enough how proud I am of her. She's truly an example of what dedication and perseverance look like. Not only did Ammanuela reach her goal by obtaining her Associate in Science degree, but she went even further to earn an IT certificate. Ammanuela is an admirable student and I know she will go forward to do amazing, wonderful things," said Jillian Davis, College Liaison, College Recruitment and High School Partnerships at Durham Tech. 

Antoine plans to major in psychology and attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the fall. By earning her Associate degree, she will enter UNC as a junior. She plans to continue to push herself through the university’s honors program by getting involved in extra curricular activities and community service to appeal to competitive medical schools that she is interested in attending following her bachelor’s degree. She hopes to pursue a career in psychiatry.

For more information, contact Desiree Towson, M.S., Communications and Public Relations Coordinator, at allisontowsond@durhamtech.edu.