Raven Osborne attends the 21st Century Charter High School in Gary, Indiana and will be graduating this month. The school is surrounded by dilapidated buildings, a common sight throughout the city. The high school graduation rate in Gary and Northwest Indiana ranges from 100% all the way down to 54%, so her graduating high school isn’t a big deal.
But when we heard that the beautiful, young talent was also graduating college this month, we knew we had to investigate further.
“I graduate from college on May 5,” she told CBS News.
So when does she graduate from high school? May 22.
Yep, that’s right. Raven gets her college degree two weeks before her high school diploma.
Osborne, who has been taking college classes part-time while still going to high school, is about to graduate from both high school and college in the same month.
But that’s not even the best part: After she graduates, she is guaranteed a job as teacher at the same high school she just graduated from!
“When people hear that … they’re going, ‘What? How did she do that?'” Duncan said.
“Yeah they think I’m lying,” Raven said.
The way she accomplished it all was through online classes, a year-round community college and two years at Purdue University Northwest. Her semester-long college courses counted as a full year of high school credit. So while many of her peers were out snapchat-ing or instagram-ing it up, Osbourne was researching and studying for her next test.
“Sophomore, that was the most work. I had five high school classes, four college classes,” she said.
Everyone at 21st Century Charter is required to take college classes on a college campus in order to graduate.
Some get just a few credits. Five of this year’s 43 graduates earned associate’s degrees. And then there’s Raven.
“When I was a younger, I was labelled with a learning disability,” she tells the Chicago Tribune. “But my mother always told me I could do whatever I wanted to do in life.”
“She is not only academically gifted, but has demonstrated amazing intellectual maturity in her pursuit of a baccalaureate degree at Purdue Northwest,” her future alma mater said in a statement.
Kevin Teasley started the foundation that runs the school. He uses state funding for tuition and transportation to nearby college campuses.
So how much did Raven pay for college? “Absolutely nothing,” she said. “Not a dime.” That’s all thanks to…
… the work Mr. Teasley has done and the work that Raven will soon do after graduation.
This fall, Raven will be back at 21st Century Charter, this time as a teacher.
Instead of paying for college, the school will be paying her salary, $38,000 a year to teach.
“We believe all students can achieve more and they will, if we support them…The college experience they receive while attending our high school gives them the confidence to … complete college, too. It’s a pretty cool accomplishment,” says Teasley
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