These 90 Philly high schoolers are about to receive diplomas and college degrees — at the same time

They were 13 and 14 when they began high school at Parkway Center City Middle College — and enrolled at Community College of Philadelphia at the same time.

Four years later, 90 Philadelphia School District students will soon collect their high school diplomas and associate’s degrees, poised at age 17 or 18 to move on to higher education with 60 college credits already under their belt.

For young people who are mostly low-income, Black, first-generation college students in a country where there are significant gaps in college completion rates for underrepresented groups and a student debt crisis, it’s a revelation. Superintendent William R. Hite Jr. started the program to increase college access for city students and it is believed to be the only one of its kind in Pennsylvania.

“The opportunities before them are enormous,” CCP president Donald “Guy” Generals said at a news conference Thursday. “I don’t think you can overstate the importance of that, going into their third year of college at 18.”

» READ MORE: 13 and in college? Philly students begin a new kind of high school program

The students’ accomplishment is especially significant given the vision President Joe Biden laid out Wednesday night. Biden’s $1.8 trillion American Families Plan seeks to expand access to child care and education, including paying for community college for all.

Two years at CCP normally costs more than $11,000; so in all, the education for 90 students was worth more than $1 million, which the School District covered.

“The college degree is no longer an option,” Generals said. “By 2025, 60 to 70% of all jobs will require some level of postsecondary credentials. [Hite] and I have been saying all along that it’s a K-16 model that we need to be mindful of.”

Anissa Wheeler-White remembers the moment she and her mom learned about Parkway Center City Middle College from a story she read online. Was it for real? A high school diploma and a college degree at the same time, for free?

“We were both kind of in shock,” said Wheeler-White, 18, who’s headed to the School of the Art Institute in Chicago in the fall. She’s been admitted to the school’s honors program and hopes to study abroad.

Earning top grades in both high school and college courses changed the paths open to her, Wheeler-White said.

“It really helped me throughout my college applying process. They’re looking like, ‘Oh wow, they must really be good.’ I definitely think if I had not been in this program, I would not have had the confidence to push myself forward and think, ‘I can go to Ivy League schools.’”

In total, 73% of the original Parkway Center City Class of 2017 cohort and 96% of the graduating class are earning diplomas and associate’s degrees — 90 of 121 students who began in 2017 with a summer course at CCP. Four additional Parkway Center City students are earning diplomas and at least 48 college credits; 27 students left the program, district officials said.

The challenge of becoming college students as high school freshmen, plus living through COVID-19 has made the path especially tough for her students, said Anh Nguyen, Parkway Center City’s principal. The seniors have not attended in-person classes since last March and will not have the opportunity to set foot inside a classroom before graduation.

“Our scholars have overcome many obstacles this year, especially during the pandemic,” Nguyen said.

And they handled it with aplomb, as evidenced by the long list of college acceptances and $7 million (and counting) in merit scholarships the class has been offered, the principal said.

Nguyen said she heard more than once from CCP professors that they weren’t aware at first that her kids were high school students.

“Our students actually exceeded the college professors’ expectations and exceeded what the adult college students were doing,” Nguyen said.

Elijah Robinson, who’s headed to Chestnut Hill College to study marketing, said juggling high school and college work simultaneously gave him “the best high school experience I could have.”

“We proved ourselves — that we are professional, that we can excel in higher ed,” said Robinson, 18. “We were young and we really did it.”

Interest is high in Parkway Center City, which accepts students from across Philadelphia and sits a few blocks from CCP’s main campus: 2,100 students applied this year for its 120 seats. To qualify, students must have mostly As and Bs in major subjects and strong attendance.

Half of Parkway Center City’s seats are reserved for students who would be the first in their family to go to college.