Seven students from a South LA school receive both their high school diploma and a college degree

When a group of students from Stella High Charter Academy (SHCA) started talking about their accomplishments on Tuesday morning, the topics included sports, culinary arts, who had the highest GPA, their major and how important family is to them. 

While the achievements were many, there was one thing that all these students had in common; they are graduating this week to receive their high school diploma and next week to receive a college degree.

The students are part of a dual enrollment program at SHCA where they take two college classes per semester starting in ninth grade. This helps them obtain college credits by the time they start their studies at a four-year university.

Julio Tobar, 17, is receiving his Associate Degree in Social Science and Liberal Arts, along with his high school diploma. He will be attending UC Davis to study business. His plan is to start a franchise of Guatemalan restaurants. 

Tobar, with Guatemalan background, said his parents are his biggest cheerleaders and supporters as they always prioritize his education. 

“They didn't have the opportunity [to an education] when they were young so they wanted me to have it and go above and beyond,” said Tobar. “My mom always made sure that my grades were on top and because my only job was to get straight As.”

While Tobar recognizes the effort as a family, he also admitted it wasn’t as difficult as it sounds. He said he was able to get all his classes and have fun on his own time. 

Breaking generational barriers

The group of seven students graduating with their college degrees and high school diplomas are first generation students coming from immigrant families. 

Alexandra Espinoza, 18, said this is very important because they are breaking stereotypes of being called "drug dealers" and “criminals”

Espinoza will be attending UC San Diego to major in psychology. She acknowledged the support from her family and counselor at school.

Keily Rosa is receiving her Associates Degree and will be attending Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to study mechanical engineering. She said she’s very excited to participate in the dual program because at the beginning of high school she didn’t want to attend a four-year college. She was afraid of getting in debt, but her mom encouraged her to at least get an associates degree and she accepted it by enrolling in the program. 

“At first I was like, I get a [college] degree and high school diploma and I don’t have to go to college,” she said. “But through the process of dual enrollment and getting the degree I fell in love with learning and higher education and now I’m going to a four-year [university].”

Providing the right support

The program offers the students the opportunity to obtain their high school diplomas, AA degrees and Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC) Certification; having completed their lower-division general education classes before starting the four-year college. 

SHCA is one of nine free charter public schools in the Bright Star Schools network. The school is co-located on the campus of L.A. Southwest College, which facilitates the high school-to-college pipeline because college professors go to the SCHA campus to teach the class or students can walk to campus to take their college classes. 

Erick Salazar, college and career dual enrolment coordinator at SHCA, said the program is embedded into a regular schedule, which means students don’t have to take classes outside of their regular school hours.

“Two of their regular classes are replaced by college classes and they do this every semester,” he said. “By the end of the senior year, if they completed their four years they should be able to have an AA degree completed as they are graduating high school.”  

SHCA is located in South Los Angeles and has a Latino population of about 95% with 550 students. This year about 120 will be graduating, including the seven students with their college degrees added. 

Bright Start School’s graduates had an 87% enrollment in higher education in 2024 compared to 51% attending similar schools nationwide. 

Salazar said this program is becoming a success. Last year, one student graduated high school with their AA degree. This year, seven students are graduating with their AA degrees and there’s an estimate of 15 students graduating with AA degrees for next year. 

The counselor said seeing students graduate with their AA degrees from high school is a domino effect that motivates other students.

“This is a great way for our students to start thinking about not just their Bachelors but their Masters especially since now, moving on forward, the Bachelors seem a little inflated so it is important for them to reach that Master level yo start competing against other professionals,” he said. 

In order to continue their success, SHCA makes sure to continue mentoring students even after graduation. The program provides its graduates with sixyears of added counselor support through its Alumni Support and College Success program, where counselors continue to help alumni navigate financial aid, offer skill-building opportunities and help them overcome societal barriers.