TEMPLE, Texas — Nineteen Temple High School seniors will graduate with an associate degree from Temple College later this month after completing the Texas Bioscience Institute (TBI) Middle College Program. The TBI Middle College program allows high school students to work on completing their high school courses and progress toward an associate degree simultaneously.
The 19 students from Temple High School who will be earning their associate degree through the TBI Middle College program are: Sophia Brea, Azaiah Castillo, Gabriel Ciaburri, Carrigan Fritz, Sara Garza, Haley Hamson, Ariana Helt, Addison King, Anna Lesley, Gilberto Lopez, Mariana Mancillas-Galaviz, Camryn McGlothlin, Andrea Mendez, Porfino Nino, Riya Patel, Alysia Ramirez, Alena Salazar, Phillip Salinas and Arianna Skinner. That group represents one of the largest from Temple High School to graduate from TBI in a single year.
The TBI Middle College Program requires a year-round commitment for the final two years of a student’s high school career. Students entering the program have to meet several prerequisites. Each student must have high school credits in Pre-AP Algebra II, Biology I and Chemistry I with a B average or higher. Students must also pass both portions of the Texas Success Initiative Assessment (TSIA), submit a teacher recommendation and write an essay. Students in the TBI Middle College Program earn up to 60 credit hours in a STEM-focused (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) foundational curriculum. In addition to the challenging course work, many of these students also participate in extracurricular activities. The 19 soon-to-be graduates also experienced another difficulty as they moved through the strenuous TBI program.
“These graduating seniors are unique in that all of the courses they took during their junior year for the TBI program were remote due to the pandemic,” said Jamie Durham, a counselor at Temple High School.” They had to learn how to succeed as a college student without the benefit of being on the college campus. They have done well in spite of the obstacles they faced. However, a huge bonus this year is that their classes have been covered by the GRIT grant and they didn’t have to pay for their classes or their books. They take their next steps as seasoned college students, and many will graduate with their bachelor’s degrees in just two more years.”
The students enrolled in the program received their silver cords, symbolic of completing requirements for graduation during a ceremony on April 20th. The group will actually graduate with their associate degree before they graduate from high school. Temple College’s graduation is scheduled for May 14th with Temple High School’s graduation slated for May 28th.