When Naud Ghebre received his high school diploma this month, he graduated as valedictorian. However, Ghebre also had tallied up 69 college credits, earned his college associate degree, carried a 4.0 grade point average and taken part in Georgia Perimeter College’s math and engineering clubs and Student Government Association.

A classmate of Ghebre, 17-year-old Britney Pitter, graduated from high school with 64 college credits and an associate degree in general studies from Georgia Perimeter. She kept a 3.8 GPA while volunteering for Children’s Hospital of Atlanta and Special Olympics.

Ghebre and Pitter are part of the Class of 2014—at both the DeKalb Early College Academy and Georgia Perimeter College. The two shared their personal academic journeys with members of the University System of Georgia Board of Regents and state higher education representatives during the May BOR meeting. 

DECA, a joint venture between GPC and the DeKalb County School District, enables college-ready high school students from underrepresented groups to spend their first two years of high school at the academy in Stone Mountain and their final two at Georgia Perimeter’s Clarkston Campus. Academy students earn high school and college credits simultaneously through dual enrollment, which means they can graduate from high school and earn a college associate degree at the same time.

As early college students, their appearance at the BOR represented a great example for Complete College Georgia efforts, connecting K-12 school and higher education, said Dr. Houston Davis, USG chief academic officer and executive vice chancellor. Davis introduced Ghebre and Pitter at the meeting.

Ghebre, a Stone Mountain resident, has been accepted into Georgia Tech’s engineering program, where he hopes to earn a degree in chemical engineering. But three years ago, it was just a coincidence that he found out about the DECA program, he said. “I was getting ready to drop off some papers for (the magnet program) at Columbia High School, and my brother mentioned that the DECA was in the same parking lot,” he said. Ghebre said he immediately decided to bring his transcripts over to DECA and was accepted into the program.

“The experience in DECA gave me confidence and a wealth of knowledge and career opportunities,” he said. It also saved his family money: “I did the math and realized I saved my family $18,000 in college tuition,” he said. Ghebre is the first in his family to graduate from college, but he won’t be the last—his brother is a rising senior in the DECA program.

Pitter, a Decatur resident, was ready to enter Columbia High School when information about DECA “caught my attention,” she said. She candidly told the BOR gathering that when she was accepted into the DECA program, “I had no idea what I was getting into … I had the freedom of a college student that the high school student craves—and all the responsibility—at age 15. No one was telling me to go to class,” she said. She worked hard to keep her grade point average up, she said.

Pitter said by participating in DECA, she also helped her mother, who was working two jobs to support the family. Pitter has been accepted into Georgia State University, where she plans to major in neuroscience. She hopes to become a doctor one day.

Both students expressed their appreciation for the DECA program and its rigorous curriculum. “DECA was truly a life-changing experience for me,” said Ghebre. His talk also impressed Georgia Tech president Dr. Bud Peterson who was in the audience: Peterson took off his own “GT” lapel pin and gave it to Ghebre.