1. Senior Project: College Classes Elizabeth Sikora

2. Why? For my senior project, I went to school! No, not high school. I started earning actual college credits. Believe me, the last thing I wanted to do after a hard week of finishing my AP tests was to take more college-level courses, but I know in the future it will pay off. Over the summer, I decided I wanted to get a head start on college and I began taking a few classes at NOVA because my major is very rigorous and starting now would mean less work in the future. Not only that, but taking the same classes I would already take at a four-year college were considerably cheaper. What Did I Do? Me

3. What Courses Did I Take? CourseCost at NOVASome Schools it Transfers To and Their Price for the Same Course World Religions (3 credits)$501University of Virginia - $2,151.00 Virginia Tech – $2,237.25 George Mason - $1,272.75 SDV (1 credit)$167Mandatory NOVA credit Engineering Economy (2 credits)$334University of Virginia – $1,434 Virginia Tech - $1,491.50 George Mason – $848.50 In short, I’ve saved over $2,000 by getting a head start on college classes.

4. Payoff This is not my first time taking dual enrollment classes through NOVA while still in high school, so in the long run I’ll have 15 college credits (equivalent to one semester of college) by the time I graduate high school, not including any AP exam credits.

5. Just when you thought the payoff couldn’t be better than rolling in money…

6. Even better than petting a camel… Since I’ve been earning actual college credit over the past year and extra courses this summer, I was registered as a Virginia Community College pathways student. By some stroke of luck, NASA offered four paid internships in their Advanced Manufacturing Branch to pathways students in the D.C., Virginia, and Maryland area, and since I’ve already completed some accredited college coursework, I was eligible to apply. Not thinking I had a chance at the internship, they noticed my initiative for getting a head start on college and hard work through out high school and picked me as a finalist to interview for the position in mid June. Pretty cool???

7. Overall  Make the most of your time and money, because you never know who will see that and give you an opportunity.  Also I did yoga.  My yoga instructor was my sponsor.  I highly recommend the Thursday night Vinyasa Yoga classes at Anytime Fitness.