These 5 Philly teens just earned college degrees. They’ll collect their HS diplomas next month.

The idea was the adults’: Boys’ Latin of Philadelphia Charter School wants to change the conversation about young Black men in Philadelphia.

The work was the students’.

On Saturday, five Boys’ Latin seniors earned associate’s degrees from Community College of Philadelphia, most with honors. Next month, they’ll collect their high school diplomas.

William Hayes, CEO of Boys’ Latin, is proud of Dylan Adkins, Khalif Barakat-Cooper, Marquise Floyd-Reid, Aidan Marion, and Jeremiah Roach. But he’s not surprised.

“These five young men aren’t exceptions,” Hayes said. “They’re our evidence.”

The five are Boys’ Latin’s first middle college graduates. The program, growing in popularity in Philadelphia and across the country, gives students the ability to simultaneously earn high school and college credits, typically on a university or community college’s campus.

It’s seen as a way to address both college affordability issues and, often, to help underserved youth achieve postsecondary success. CCP on Saturday graduated 103 students from Parkway Center City Middle College, two from High School of the Future, 12 from MaST Charter School, and the five from Boys’ Latin.

The first cohort of Boys’ Latin students were 10th graders when staff pitched them on the new program, which would send them to Community College of Philadelphia to learn.

Adkins was curious, if a little daunted.

“I knew that it was going to be an academic challenge, definitely converting from taking high school classes to now taking college classes,” he said. “But I thought that having people knowing that they could trust me, know that I was going to pass all my classes, that was worth it.”

Roach was a little tougher to convince.

“At first, I’m not going to lie, I didn’t really want to do it,” he said. “I was already included in a lot of stuff — football and sports. I thought, that will make it even harder.”

But Roach listened to Zach Paris, the school’s director of early college and career programming, and to his mom. College classes would be a stretch, but he was going to try.

The Boys’ Latin students started with a CCP summer program designed to acclimate them to taking college courses. And then they jumped in with both feet, taking full college course loads.

There was a learning curve, both socially and academically, Roach said.

“It felt a little weird,” said Roach. “I was in class with 30-year- olds, 40-year-olds.”

All five eventually found their stride. Barakat-Cooper earned CCP’s highest honors; he, Floyd-Reid, Roach, and Marion are all graduating summa cum laude.

But there were tough moments, for sure: Roach wasn’t a fan of an online French course.

Adkins struggled in a first-semester math class, so much that he feared he’d fail the course and have to return to Boys’ Latin.

“I said, ‘I think this is over,’” said Marion. But he checked in with Paris, who encouraged Marion to reach out to his professor and explain the situation. That resulted in a turnaround; the professor worked with Marion, who passed, and went on to thrive in other classes.

“People just poured trust into me, and kept the positive vibes still there,” said Marion.

Each found things to like about their classes, too.

Marion fell in love with a physics class where a professor “would run into the door, jump on a table, mid-lecture, just to prove a point,” he said. Adkins was unexpectedly into an art history course that included a field trip to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Barakat-Cooper soared in intro to robotics and survey of criminal justice.

Moving from the structure of high school to the freedom of a college student’s schedule was freeing, but required discipline. There were definitely moments when they hit “send” on assignments a few minutes before 11:59 p.m. due dates, they said, but they also learned a lot about carefully planning out their time.

The quintet also had to account for returning to Boys’ Latin at least once a week, and more frequently for those involved in sports and activities — Roach was quarterback of the football team, Marion played baseball and soccer, Adkins rowed crew and played lacrosse, and Barakat-Cooper played soccer.

It worked out: The five are all among Boys’ Latin’s top-ranked students - Marion is ranked second, Adkins third, Barakat-Cooper eighth, Floyd-Reid 11th, and Roach 12th.

Each is taking 61 or 62 credits to college. Marion is heading to Norfolk State University; Adkins, Winston-Salem State University; Roach, Delaware Valley University; and Barakat-Cooper, Temple University.

The first of two graduations feels a little like a dream, the students said. Their families are over the moon.

And Boys’ Latin is enormously proud, too, said Paris, who said the school’s middle college program is growing.

Adkins said his accomplishment is as much his mother’s — she works as a juvenile correctional officer — as his, because her example fueled him.

“It’s so exciting,” said Adkins. “I’m proud of my hard work, and what I did. But my mom worked super hard, and I did it for her.”

Marion is thrilled that his free college degree — Boys’ Latin handled student tuition, plus transportation and books — is making his family’s life easier, and setting a good example for his siblings.

“I just wanted to take stress off their shoulders,” Marion said. “And I want to show other Black and brown kids that they can do this, too.”