SALISBURY — For Victoria Fowler, it feels “awesome, great, amazing, all of the above,” to be one of the 42 senior comprising Rowan Early College’s first graduating class.
That enthusiasm stems from the fact that Fowler wasn’t sure she’d even be graduating when she started at the school four years ago.
“My freshman year, I faced a lot of challenges,” she said. “I had a bad attitude and I didn’t really put time into doing my work, I was like ‘Whatever, it’s just school.'”
But Fowler said her teachers quickly gave her the wake up call she needed.
“When I was down thinking I wasn’t going to make it, they said ‘You can do it,'” she said. “They pushed me hard, even when I didn’t want to be pushed.
“It changed me and I do appreciate it because now I’m making As and Bs.”
Fowler is one of 38 Early College students who will receive her high school diploma Friday and associate’s degree from Rowan-Cabarrus Community College on Saturday.
That makes her the first person in her family to obtain a college degree.
Eighty-six percent of Early College graduates are first generation college students.
Read the complete story in Thursday’s Post.