You may not see Alianna Card in the halls because she’s in the Dual Enrollment Program. She is a junior at HHS and a freshman at St. Louis Community College, working hard Monday through Friday to earn her associate’s degree.

Card finds a way to balance both school and life.

“My workload is significantly larger and more difficult than when I was in high school, so I have to find time to get things done and keep my grades up,” Card said. “I’ve had to make some compromises with myself to do everything I want to do. For example, to be in the play Puffs I had to stay up until 2 or 3 in the morning some nights to get stuff done.”

While the struggle is real in this program, there are still many positive things that come with being in college.

“I would say the best thing about this program is the freedom you get. You have a lot more ‘free time’ and the professors don’t get on you about the little things that some high school teachers do.”

There was some stress before being accepted, but after there was a wave of excitement.

“When I got accepted into the program I was really excited,” Card said. “Early college had been something I was planning on doing since before I even got to high school.”

Monday is definitely a hard day but for Card, it’s filled with work and stress.

“I only have two classes but my chemistry class meets twice, once for a lecture and once for a lab,” Card said. “Chemistry meets first from 10-10:50, then I go to precalculus, which meets from 11-11:50, and then I go back to Chemistry for my lab from 1-2:50.”

College can have a great reward but how much of that comes from sitting in a classroom?

“While I am in class for a significantly shorter amount of time, I am constantly working on something and by the end of the day, I could have spent more hours doing schoolwork than I would in class in a high school setting,” Card said.

Dual Enrollment can be a great thing for many people and Card would recommend it.

“I would suggest this program to someone else,” Card said. “It is definitely a lot of work and you have to have good self-discipline, but if you can handle it, it is a really rewarding program.”