Among Sweet Home High School graduates Friday night will be one three-year student, Samantha Updegrave.
Updegrave, 17, decided when she was a freshman that she wanted to get out as fast as possible and focused herself to complete the work a year early, a rare accomplishment that is not normally encouraged by the high school.
She is the daughter of Frank and Sandy Updegrave. Her father is a logger. Her mother works for the school district as a speech teacher. She has lived in Sweet Home all her life and attended Oak Heights Elementary.
After graduating, she plans to attend Linn-Benton Community College and become a nurse.
Over the last year, she has taught Spanish to third- and first-grade students.
“I just don’t want to be here any longer than I have to,” Updegrave quipped. “Basically, I didn’t think I needed to stay here an extra year and take classes that won’t help me in my career.”
Instead of being in the high school, Updegrave looked at her senior year as a chance to start working on her college courses.
Updegrave doesn’t think she’s missing out on anything by graduating early.
She and her mother had to talk quite a bit with her counselor and the principal her freshman year about her plans to graduate early.
By her sophomore year, she had to complete a letter outlining how and why she wanted to graduate as well as what she would do once she completed high school. Principal Pat Stineff had to sign the letter to allow her to continue.
In addition, she was required to complete two extra credits. Her third year carried the bulk of her work and was the toughest year.
Updegrave completed four years of Spanish in three years. She also took advanced placement history and English at the same time she was taking other lower English classes. In the end, she will earn an honors diploma with a 3.71 GPA.
Updegrave enjoys snow boarding, hiking, jogging and spending time with friends.
She plans to take a two-year program at LBCC then go to work as a registered nurse. She would like to work in pediatrics. After working for awhile, she would like to return to LBCC and get licensed as a physician’s assistant.
The high school discouraged her from pursuing early graduation, Updegrave said, but she went forward with it anyway.
“It’s worth it to work hard for one year than less hard for two,” Updegrave said.
She thanked her mother for her support.
“My mom helped me out a lot,” Updegrave said. She helped her get through the school’s process to allow the early graduation and helped secure scholarships for college.
“It’s not something we encourage because we feel that four years of high school is good for a kid,” Stineff said. It gives students a broader range of classes, enjoy high school activities and more time to mature. Children are children for 18 years, then they have “forever” to work. High school is a chance for them to stay kids and enjoy the social part of school. They also have the chance to explore a variety of subjects and classes.
“Most kids are not focused,” Stineff said. “I think this one has been focused for some time. I think she was very focused in what she wanted to do for a long time. She’s been focused totally on school and getting out. Most kids are not that focused.
“I hope she does well. She has the potential to do really well. This one was cut out to do it. She got good grades. She was smart and focused, and that’s what it takes.”
Counselor Pat Haneburg said that only two or three students have graduated early since she went to work in Sweet Home with the Class of 1987.
Next school year, it will be harder for students to graduate early with the requirement going from 24 credits to 26 credits. Only 30 are offered through the course of high school. For a couple of years, 32 credits were offered on a 24 credit requirement.