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| Abigail Seagle earned 40 hours of college credit through SCC’s Career and College promise program before graduating from Smoky Mountain High School this spring. She’s now a sophomore at Harding University in Arkansas. |
Abigail Seagle had a lot going on in her high school career.
She played volleyball for three years and was a member of Smoky Mountain High’s inaugural women’s golf team. She excelled in the classroom (finishing with a 4.0 GPA) and on the links (qualified for the NCSAA state tournament).
Somehow in the middle of all that, she managed to rack up 40 hours of college credit through Southwestern Community College’s Career and College Promise program. Her college GPA, incidentally, was also a 4.0.
It all allowed her to be enter Harding University (Searcy, Ark) this fall as a sophomore.
“That’s what I like about Career and College Promise: it allows you to have more of a free schedule," said Seagle, whose mother Hilary is a math instructor at Southwestern. “I was able to be in college classes while I’m also involved in high school. I was able to play sports.
“I found a nice balance,” she added. “I was able to work after practice or school or whenever without getting bogged down.”
Career and College Promise was launched in 2012, so Seagle was able to enroll after her sophomore year of high school. The program offers 19 career technical pathways as well as two college transfer pathways and is designed for traditional high school and home school juniors and seniors who meet state guidelines.
Math instructor Vance Waggener was impressed with Seagle.
“Abigail was in my precalculus algebra and precalculus trigonometry classes last year, and she was a model student,” Waggener said. “She made high A's all the way through a difficult subject. She’s a joy to have in the classroom.”
Now at Harding, Seagle is majoring in communication science disorders and hopes to complete her degree within three years.
“Abigail is a perfect example of what students can do through our Career and College Promise program,” said Cindy Thompson, SCC’s college access coordinator. “It was a joy to have her on our campus, and she really worked hard to get a huge head start on her college career while she was still in high school. I am confident she’ll succeed at whatever she chooses to do in life.”
For more information about Career and College Promise, call Thompson at 828.339.4610 or write her at cindy_thompson@southwesterncc.edu.
