Beaufort teen checks high school, college off list at one time

Jared Davis was 13 when he watched his mother and sister walk across a stage at Parris Island and accept their associate degrees in science.

His sister, Ariana, was the first Whale Branch Early College High School senior to earn a two-year degree from the Technical College of the Lowcountry along with a high school diploma in 2012. His mother, Teresa, had been inspired to go back to school herself after years as a housewife and caregiver to the elderly and young.

Jared was inspired, too. A few years later, he transferred from Beaufort High School to Whale Branch, starting down the path that would bring him to the same Parris Island stage on Friday night, where he accepted not one but two associate degrees from TCL.

“Graduating tonight is like a huge relief off my shoulders and makes me feel like I’ve done a good job,” Jared Davis, 17, said. “I didn’t know that I was capable of taking these classes, knowing I could pass them and just pursuing my degrees.”

Davis was one of 15 Whale Branch seniors to earn an associate degree from TCL on Friday at no cost to himself, a record number in the Beaufort County School District’s five-year partnership with the technical college.

It’s up from nine students last year, seven in 2014, two in 2013 and just one, Ariana Davis, in 2012. And others throughout the years, including 10 this spring, earned certificates from TCL for earning about a years’ worth of college credits.

“It makes me feel good because I feel like I kind of helped pave the way to help him to see this is something you should do,” Ariana Davis, 21, said. “You save money. You save time in college.”

While any district student can take college-level courses at TCL, students at Whale Branch High participate in a program built around the partnership. Of the 103 students in this year’s graduating class, a third earned college credits.

Next year, 91 students who live outside the school’s attendance zone will go to Whale Branch High through the district’s school choice program — the highest in the school’s history.

Changing schools was a difficult decision for Davis, who left behind classmates he’d known since he moved to Beaufort from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

But his parents and sister convinced him, and Jared filed his school-choice paperwork three days before the deadline and passed the test to enroll at TCL.

Soon, he was balancing his high school classes with a college course-load, sometimes doubling up on math and history courses and writing six-page essays late into the night. When he wanted to give up — usually at the hands of trigonometry — he would remind himself how far he’d come.

“I realized that it is worth it and if I stop now, it’s only going to hurt me later on when I actually go to a four-year college,” the senior said.

On Friday, with the work behind him, Jared stood with his family in the TCL classroom at Whale Branch High, ready to graduate later that evening. Principal Mona Lise Dickson told them about Jared’s speech on leadership at the recent senior banquet and joked about the straightforward way the teen once complemented her hires at Whale Branch High.

“ ‘They are efficient and effective,’ ” Dickson mimicked, before breaking into a laugh. “Oh yeah, Jared’s going to let me know that. Jared will let you know. That’s a good thing.”

Jared Davis’ maturity will serve him well at Clemson University next year, where he will be studying biology. Like his sister, who’s nearing a veterinary license, he will have more school ahead of him after that. He wants to become a gynecologist to help women like those in his family suffering from cervical cancer, fibroids and other reproductive issues.

His aunt, Latricia Brown, calls it a blessing.

“My family, we’re all excited, we’re all overjoyed to see him prosper and be successful,” she said.

This story was originally published May 13, 2016 at 10:05 AM with the headline "Beaufort teen checks high school, college off list at one time."