Every December, early graduates from all over the United States say goodbye to their peers and vacate their high school grounds for the last time, leaving behind memories and fellow peers who must toil through one more semester of school. December is upon the world once again, and Tupelo High School is saying goodbye to a few more students who have chosen to graduate early.

“I’m really excited to get out,” said Michaela Cayson, senior and early December graduate at THS. “I can’t wait to see what the future holds.”

Cayson, like others before her, chose to graduate early in order to get a head start into adulthood.

“I wanted to start my career early and get it all out of the way,” Cayson said. “All you really had to do was pass state tests, pass all your classes and get three teacher recommendations.”

Not many people choose to graduate early, but the process is as straightforward as Cayson makes it out to be. However, along with the requirements Cayson named, there is one other thing early graduates must do.

“The policy that is set by Tupelo High School and the Tupelo School District is that every student who graduates early has to have my approval for various reasons,” Principal Jason Harris said.

Harris does not think early graduation is for all students.

“You’ll never get the second semester of your senior year back,” Harris said. “If you leave early, you’ll never get that back. So you need to cherish that while you can. I understand that sometimes certain things come up in students’ lives where it is beneficial to graduate early and to move on to that new stage of their life, but I think for the majority of the students, your best interest is to enjoy your high school time.”

Not everyone who applies for early graduation chooses to follow through with the process.

“It’s interesting to see that a good number of students who apply for early graduation and are accepted and meet those needs actually, once school gets started, change their mind and come back for the second semester,” Harris said.

Cayson agrees that unless a student has a reason to graduate early, they should take their time with high school.

“If you’re on the right track, I would say no, enjoy your high school years,” Cayson said.

This year at THS, 36 seniors are graduating a semester early in December, and eight juniors are scheduled to graduate a year early in May. Harris said that THS averages about 15 early December graduations per year, making this year very peculiar in comparison to the past. This rising number can be attributed to the switch three years ago to block scheduling, as compared to previous years where students attended eight classes a day.

“I feel like block schedule made it so much easier,” Cayson said. “It gave me more credits.”

Harris agrees.

“The process has actually been around for quite a while,” Harris said. “But now with block schedule, with credits being awarded in December versus at the end of the year on a traditional schedule, that has made graduating early easier to do.”