My educational career was an interesting ride, to say the least. I graduated from college at the age of 19. On this page I go over my unique story, accomplishments, and overall experience with school.

Early years.

From preschool to 10th grade, my school life was fairly normal. It wasn’t until freshman year of high school I took my first TV/Video Production course with my favorite teacher ever, Mr. Bouchard, who is now an old friend/mentor. His courses played a big part in me solidifying my major and career path, which ended up being RTF (radio/TV/film). During my junior and senior year, I was a part of his Monthly Rewind course, where each student created a news segment every month to make a full show. During my senior year, I was named the producer of the show. Starting in middle school I would get honor roll or straight A’s. I made it into some advanced classes back then, but school wasn’t necessarily a challenge yet. During my time in high school, I was in nearly all honors and AP classes. It was rough, but things didn’t really start picking up until a huge decision I made right before my junior year.

How I graduated college at 19 years old.

During the summer after my sophomore year of high school, my parents approached me with an opportunity. They saw an ad online from the local community college about a program called “HSOP”, which allowed high school students to take college classes early. There were many benefits, such as of course finishing school earlier, as well as a 65% discount. I was very against the idea at first since I just finished the worst school year of my life so far (10th grade) and I only expected it to get worse. After a meeting with the advisor of the program with my mother, I decided to give it a try to try and get a leg up in life. That was probably the best decision I made in my life so far.

You can start the HSOP as a sophomore, but I started a year late as a junior. The program was still underground, so being in college during high school was unheard of in my area. It’s also important to note that both schools were completely separate from each other. In some situations, the college partners with other schools, making the entire process easier and laid out. I was completely enrolled into two separate schools at one time. High school was every day, all honors and AP courses, with online college. It sucked. After the first semester, I decided I wanted to go through with it and get my associates degree before I graduate high school. While just under 400 people from across South Jersey were in the program at the time, I was the only one in my school doing it and 1 out of 11 people who got an entire degree.

Cramming two years of college during my last two years of high school was hard. I couldn’t do a full 5 college courses a semester on top of high school, so I had to do summer courses and winter courses to keep up. I also took 2 challenge “CLEP” tests that are available for students to take and challenge a course. In short, you pay under $200 to take an exam and prove you don’t need the course to get credits right away. I tested out of English 101 & 102, as well as Math 101 & 102. This was 12 credits that I earned in less than 4 hours. Because of the nonstop schooling, I didn’t have even a single week off from school for a full 3 years of my life. It sucked, but in the end I managed to get my associates degree one month before I graduated high school, with a 4.0 GPA in high school. During 4-year my college career, I only ever received 2 A-’s. The rest of my college career was all A’s. All of this cost me under $20,000, not including scholarships. While this journey in itself was a wild ride, the actual schooling aspect of it wasn’t even the craziest part…

Okay, cool… but what else happened?

Getting an associates before graduating high school is very unheard of in my area. Because of this, I was bound to get some good press from it. However, something set me apart from the few other students who were doing the same thing as me. After telling my high school counselor about what I was doing, she was really interested. Knowing that I do video production, she suggested creating a commercial to promote the program. I realized that this idea could lead to some very good things, so I went through with it. After creating the video and sending it out, it went viral throughout the college campus. They loved it. You can click here to watch that video. Just a few days later, I was asked to be interviewed for an article by a reporter at the college. At the end of the interview, we took a photo. Little did I know, that picture was going to be seen by a lot of people. Millions of people.

My story got around town. The picture ended up being used all over for college advertising. At first, they asked if I was okay with it being on a billboard. Of course, I agreed. After that, I was invited to a board meeting to share my story with higher-ups at the college. At this event, it was revealed that the article and my picture was going to be on the cover and first page of the college’s magazine that gets sent out to 255,000 homes across South Jersey. A few scholarships and interviews later, that picture was on a billboard on Route 55, the college’s website, the magazine, ads in the mall, and even on the back of New Jersey transit buses. I’d get countless pictures sent to me from my peers, friends, and family of them holding a magazine with me on it, or them in a car behind a bus with my picture on it. While it was a lot to handle for me, I’m glad it happened because it’s a great story and it led to a lot of opportunities. I won a few scholarships because of it, including being the youngest recipient ever of the $1,000 Broadcast Pioneers scholarship. I also received a cardboard cutout of myself (it’s terrifying) from another scholarship for $2,000 and gave a small thanks. In May, 2018 I was elected to give a speech at the High School Collegiate Scholar ceremony to address and commend the program that changed my life. You can find that speech here.

After the madness settled, I was off to complete my college career with the 3+1 program, which was a new system at the time that allowed me to take my third year at the same community college. This is where I got my first part time job as a technician. Because of my story being so widespread, many people around the college already knew me so it was a good fit. After my junior year, I went to Rowan University to finish my degree in Radio/TV/Film. That was definitely the hardest semester of my life. During the spring I had an internship as a digital content creator for the division of student affairs. That was going to lead into a great job, but unfortunately things changed after COVID-19. Finally, in May of 2020, I finished my degree at the age of 19. I ended up receiving my bachelors degree two years early as a summa cum laude graduate (highest level of honors) for less than $20,000. I also had roughly $5,000 worth of scholarships, which made my schooling around $15,000 total. After I got my degree, the Rowan Blog team reached out to me to write an article. There were around six articles written about me that I remember, that you can find below in the accomplishments and awards section!

My overall experience.

Something important to note is that I hate school. I always have, and I always will. It’s really not my thing, and I honestly feel most of it was pointless stress and suffering. My accomplishments of getting college done two years early was more helpful in my life than school itself, unfortunately. I did it for the opportunity, and to get it over with so I can move on. I can confidently note that I am mostly if not entirely self taught in all of these skills that are involved with my career. Mr. Bouchard was the one person from school who really did teach me a lot with TV production specifically. I learned a lot because of his courses, but mainly from my own adventures in completing them. Bouchard’s course design was perfect. It gave a lot of room to expand with little restriction, and guidance whenever I needed it. I learned some small things in college, but nothing I couldn’t just quickly google myself.

Was it worth it? I would say yes. I am still very young, and got a degree for very cheap. Even though I plan to be self employed through my work, the degree will definitely help me in my future endeavors to get on sets. My childhood school experience is sort of a blur now. I never really had a problem socially in school. I more so just kept to myself and was a normal, somewhat quiet kid just waiting to go home. High school, however, was just thousands of hours of pointless stress. While it did help me develop as a person for the wrong reasons, I definitely think I could be in a better spot if I never dealt with high school. However, I’m glad I did and that it’s all over. So, I guess you could say my overall experience was, “meh”. I made some of my life long friends (all in elementary), but don’t talk to anyone from after that. School was hard and puts the wrong ideas in children’s heads, that is for sure. The system definitely has some improving to do, but I did attend some decent schools. All I can say is that I’m glad its over, and I’m just getting started! ;)

Awards and accomplishments.

• Bachelor’s Degree in Radio / Television / Film at age 19 (Rowan University)

  • Summa Cum Laude Graduate (highest level of honors)

• Associate’s Degree in Radio / Television / Film at age 17 (Rowan College of South Jersey)

• You can find the articles written about my story here:

  • Graduating College at 19 - Rowan Blog

  • Graduate earns associate’s degree and diploma at same time - The Sun Newspapers

  • Senior Earns Associate’s Degree Prior to High School Graduation - WTPS

  • Graduating College Before High School - RCSJ

  • Student lands college degree before graduating high school - The Sun Newspapers

  • Local People Achieving Big Things in South Jersey and Beyond - South Jersey Magazine

• 4.0 GPA in high school overall (with mostly honors and AP)

• 3.98 GPA in college overall (only 2 A-’s)

• Youngest Recipient of the Broadcast Pioneers Scholarship

• Perfect Attendance during all four years of high school

• Honorable Mention in the Rowan University RTF Media Fest - Solo Project, Animation Category

• Student Emmy Nominee in my junior year of high school - Project with a friend

• Robert M. Bess Memorial Volunteer Scholarship - Only two recipients

• Rowan College of South Jersey 2018 Commencement Class Representative

• Senior Activity Award - Outstanding Achievement Scholarship

• 2 high school student of the month awards

• Last Producer of the show Monthly Rewind in senior year of high school

• Over 50 live events directed over the course of my last 3 years in high school

• Passing 2 CLEP tests to get 12 college credits in less than 4 hours

• My photo used on the cover of the Rowan College of South Jersey advertisement magazine

• My photo used on a major highway Billboard

• My photo used on the back of NJ transit buses

“Never settle.” -Marty Bouchard

View where this quote was born.