Two in one

On May 12, twins Harlee and Caylee Flynn walked across the stage at Southwestern Community College’s graduation ceremony. However, their graduation excitement does not end there. The girls will be celebrating their high school graduation on May 21.

Not many students can say they graduated from college before they graduated from high school. The Flynns are two of just four Creston High School students getting their associate degree at the time of their high school graduation.

The Flynns first found out about this dual-enrollment program in middle school.

“Our middle school year, we kind of had heard a lot about this other girl who had done the same thing,” Caylee said. “It was a big accomplishment, pretty much the whole town was talking about it.”

“We just really wanted to be challenged,” Harlee added. “They had taken out the TAG program when we entered high school, so there wasn’t anything special for us to do, so college classes.”

The TAG program refers to the Talented and Gifted program. In Creston schools, the TAG program stops when entering high school.

Harlee explained it was because of the TAG program that the two were able to start dual-enrollment so early.

“We were able to start early our freshman year,” Harlee said. “Usually you can start your junior year, but we were in the TAG program in middle school, so we were able to start then.”

Caylee specified they started the SWCC classes second semester of their freshman year.

“We took our first class online and then we took four classes each semester from then on,” Caylee said. “The reason for that really was because they had free periods, so that gave us more time to study and then we started taking in-person classes our junior year.”

In-person dual-enrollment classes took place on the SWCC campus.

“That’s really helped because I feel like it will help us get more accustomed to life at Iowa State,” Caylee said.

After their high school graduation, the two plan on going to study at Iowa State University, rooming together. Harlee wants to study business while Caylee is looking into horticulture.

The two are looking forward to being full-time college students now, specifically living on campus.

“Being a part of the campus, meeting new people... I’m excited to do that,” Harlee said. “There’s a lot to do down there.”

They want to encourage more students to take advantage of the dual-enrollment program.

“The classes are paid for as well as the textbooks,” Harlee said. “More people should take the opportunity to take college classes.”

“It saved us a lot of money,” Caylee added.

According to SWCC’s website, “college courses are generally free during the school year to eligible high school students.”

As they get ready for their high school graduation, the two feel a little bit more prepared for this ceremony

“I’ll definitely know what to wear for this graduation,” Harlee laughed.