COPPERAS COVE – Friday night will mark history in Copperas Cove ISD’s dual credit and early college program.
When Central Texas College begins its commencement inside the Cadence Bank Center in Belton on Friday, 34 of its graduates will be current Copperas Cove HS students who have earned at least one associate degree or industry certification through the district’s partnership with CTC.
Friday’s class is the largest in the history of CCISD’s dual credit program.
“To have this many students become college graduates before they earn their high school diplomas speaks to the type of students we have in Copperas Cove,” said Superintendent Dr. Brent Hawkins. “Each of these 34 students has taken the first step toward a successful life after high school and we could not be more proud of them. I look forward to celebrating this achievement with them.”
Of the 34 students, 29 earned at least one associate degree, six earned at least one industry certification and a pair earned both an industry certification and associate degree.
Tina-Marie Akindayomi earned associate degrees in general studies and interdisciplinary studies.
“It means a lot to me,” Akindayomi said. “I worked really hard, many sleepless nights, many times where I thought I couldn’t do it but kept going. In all honestly, there’s a lot of things I want to do in life and this just helps propel that for me, so it just means a lot to me.”
Janiya Bacon completed associate degrees in general studies and interdisciplinary studies.
“All of the work that I did over these past four years, even back in middle school when I started taking high school classes, it just feels like all of the work that I did actually means something,” Bacon said. “It feels like there’s an actual award at the end of the tunnel.”
Ja’Nay Brown-Drayton earned associate degrees in general studies and interdisciplinary studies.
“It’s definitely been challenging, but it helped me mature a lot because it taught me not to procrastinate, how to schedule things out better,” Brown-Drayton said. “It helped me a lot.”
Cemona Cardoza earned four information technology certifications: Network Server and Cloud Administrator, Network Administrator, IT Network Analyst and Cybersecurity.
“It was tough,” Cardoza said. “I tried to do all my [high school} schoolwork in school, so when I could do my CTC work at home. So, my free time was very minimal.”
Abbigail Chmielewski earned an associate degree in interdisciplinary studies.
“It was definitely difficult, having to do both harder classes and just try to keep up with my credits for the high school,” Chmielewski said.
Danyel Clarke earned an associate degree in general studies.
“It’s something I take with a lot of pride,” Clarke said. “It took a lot of hard work to get there, as being enrolled in college and high school at the same time is pretty rigorous.”
Allison Crawley completed associate degrees in general studies, interdisciplinary studies and business administration.
“It’s been very challenging and long for me,” Crawley said. “Because I started college classes in eighth grade. So, it was very long and I just started off with simple courses to figure out what I wanted to do.”
Jaica Donaldson completed her associate degree in general studies.
“I feel like it really gets you ready for the college life,” Donaldson said.
Tristin Edwards completed his welding certification.
“I grew in an area of my interest that was started by my dad, really,” Edwards said. “He started this drive and me growing into this career, as well.”
Alan Fincher completed his certification in robotics technology.
“This is what I’ve wanted to do for a while, I’ve always liked robotics,” Fincher said. “So, walking down and actually being able to get a certification for all of my hard work is rewarding.”
Amaya Griffin completed her associate degrees in general studies and interdisciplinary studies.
“It means that I finally accomplished a goal that I’ve been working toward for three years, now,” Griffin said. “I started my sophomore year and I’ve continued it all through my senior year this year. It feels good to know that my hard work has finally paid off.”
Nathan Gulley also completed an industry certification in robotics technology.
“When I first got into robotics, I was thinking it was a hobby, more like my pastime,” Gulley said. “But, as we get closer to graduation I think it was more of a blessing in disguise to have this certification.”
Jeremiah Harrell earned associate degrees in general studies and interdisciplinary studies.
“It’s been long, there’s been a lot of long nights, short weekends, but it’s been good to see everything start to really pay off toward the end,” Harrell said.
Thalia-Marie Jackson completed associate degrees in general studies and interdisciplinary studies.
“It means that I can accomplish college work and that I’m ready for that type of responsibility,” Jackson said.
Nayyab Khan completed an associate degree in general studies.
“I would like to work on satellites,” Khan said. “Honestly, I’ve always found the data collection they do and the images that they do to be really fun and I would like to either design or work on them.”
Emily Kimball earned an associate degree in general studies.
“For me, it’s actually a really big accomplishment because I’m actually the first person in my family to have done that in high school,” Kimball said. “My older sister did classes at CTC, but never completed her associate’s degree, just college courses to get out of the way. I’m really excited about it and it’s a big accomplishment.”
Corbin Macik completed both a certification in robotics technology and his associate degree in general studies.
“It means I get a head start, is really what this boils down to,” Macik said. “Because I can start earlier than a lot of other people can, which will allow me to actually save a lot of money on tuition because it was all here.”
Daniel Manning earned his associate degree in general studies.
“It means I put in plenty of time and effort into this,” Manning said. “I’m finally getting this and it’s a relief to finally have it and get it out of the way so that I can work toward other degrees sooner.”
Kyleigh Mata completed an associate degree in general studies.
“ I grew up in a military family, I grew up around a lot of retired military people who have gone through PTSD and how it’s shaped them and how figuring out what really is going on up there has shaped them,” Mata said. “I really want to help people like that, I want to do clinical psychology specifically for military bases so I can help people like the people that have been around me my whole life.”
Madison McPhail finished her associate degree in general studies.
“My journey after college after school is to be an athletic trainer at, hopefully, a university or some sort of college,” McPhail said.
Kristene Mejia earned associate degrees in general studies and interdisciplinary studies.
“I want to be able to go and be a nurse,” Mejia said. “I want to be in pediatrics or a neonatal nurse and I want to work at a hospital for a few years and then I want to lean back on my art degree and have, just, a very stable life.”
Kynnerly Minus completed associate degrees in general studies and interdisciplinary studies.
“It was mostly about proving to myself that I’m capable,” Minus said. “Because there’s been a lot of times in my life that I was told I’m not smart enough to do something or the major that I plan on doing that, ‘Oh, you’re just not naturally good at that, like you can’t do it.’”
Eva Northrop completed associate degrees in general studies and interdisciplinary studies, as well.
“It means getting a head start and being able to hop straight into what I want to do at university,” Northrop said. “I want to go into exercise science at Texas State, and this was a great opportunity to get all of the general studies done. Right when I get there, I can get straight into my studies.”
Alslyn Norton completed associate degrees in general studies and interdisciplinary studies.
“I’m graduating from high school a year early, so I had to cram it in,” Norton said. “I’m very proud of myself for pushing through the norm and I’m just happy that I’ll get a head start.”
Ethan Olson not only completed his certification in robotics technology, but associate degrees in general studies and interdisciplinary studies.
“For me, it’s been a lot of spending more of my free time at home, catching up on my college work, and then focusing on my high school work in school,” Olson said. “It’s been kind of hard to balance that all with extra-curricular activities.”
Ava Petro completed associate degrees in general studies and interdisciplinary studies.
“It’s been complicated, especially because I decided to graduate a year early, so I had to cram all of my classes into three years,” Petro said. “But, it was fun. I felt like it was really flexible for me because it was online and most of my professors were relaxed.”
Nathaniel Roberts completed associate degrees in general studies and interdisciplinary studies.
“Even though it was stressful, it was worth it,” Roberts said. “I learned a lot more about autonomy and figuring stuff out myself, as opposed to having a teacher or my parents figuring stuff out for me.”
Ailene Rodarte completed associate degrees in general studies and interdisciplinary studies.
“I am going into the medical field, so that’s a lot of years of classes,” Rodarte said. “So, I get to get my basic classes out of the way and focus on my degree, my future and what I’m going to do with it.”
Madyson Seymour completed an associate degree in general studies.
“I really want to be able to give kids that have neurological conditions like autism or spina biffida, things like that,” Seymour said. “I want to give them a chance to grow and to live a life like everybody else. I want to give kids hope instead of telling them, ‘You can’t do that because you’re like that.’ So, I really want to give kids hope.”
Brenda Thomas completed an associate degree in interdisciplinary studies.
“My dream is to open my own nursing home, to make sure that older people in the community can have a place that they can go to for refuge whenever they’re older,” Thomas said. “I want to make sure it’s a happy place…to make sure my patients have the right access to medical care.”
Jolina Toala completed associate degrees in general studies and interdisciplinary studies.
“It’s a blessing for me because, coming into high school, I just expected to get my diploma,” Toala said. “But, getting these associates, it means a lot.”
Nathan Medley also completed his associate degree in general studies and Isabella Sequenzia completed associate degrees in general studies and interdisciplinary studies.
During the 2024-25 school year, Copperas Cove ISD students will have completed 5,335 total college credits and, with these 34 students graduating Friday, a total of 46 CCISD students will have completed certifications or associate degrees with Central Texas College during this school year.
Alongside Central Texas College, CCISD has active dual credit partnerships with Tarleton State University, Ranger College and McMurry University. The district recently announced the addition of Lamar State College Orange and Texas State Technical College for the 2025-26 school year.
Central Texas College’s graduation is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Friday at Cadence Bank Center in Belton.
After walking the stage from CTC, these students will graduate from Copperas Cove High School at 7:30 p.m. May 23rd, also at Cadence Bank Center in Belton.