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Michigan teen graduates high school with two college degrees

Posted at 12:07 PM, May 29, 2019
and last updated 2019-05-29 15:30:28-04

DELTON, Mich. - A Michigan teen is graduating high school with two college degrees under her belt.

Lily Cooper is always on the go. Throughout her tenure at Delton High School, she’s taken multiple advanced placement classes, earned a 4.02 GPA, was executive president of the student council and was part of the robotics team, her favorite school activity.

When she wasn’t studying, she worked part-time at a local Arby’s.

“I don’t feel any different from anybody else,” Cooper said. “Like, I just feel, I don’t even know.”

Her parents, beaming with pride, said she’s graduating fifth in her class, has been accepted to 10 universities and has received multiple scholarships.

The Coopers said they’re proud of Lily, not only because she’s decided to go to the University of Michigan Ann Arbor next fall, but also because she’ll enter school with two college degrees already.

“I started dual-enrolling my sophomore year when I was 15,” Cooper said. “I've been doing it through the summers and taking two classes per semester.  Last summer I took six classes I think.”

For the last three years, Lily has been apart of the dual-enrollment program at Kellogg Community College. She took courses in accounting and business management, while maintaining at 4.0 GPA at Delton.

“It was very nerve-wracking,” she said. “I didn’t know what I was doing at first. So, you just gotta like jump in, and it turned out alright.”

She earned a 3.8 GPA at KCC and earned  an associate degree in each major.

“I learned that I can’t procrastinate everyday. That’s a bad strategy,” Cooper said. “I learned that you can’t turn in stuff late because otherwise they won’t take it. Then your grade drops.”

It’s a lesson she’ll take with her to Michigan where she'll be studying statistics, Lily said. As nervous as she is about starting her freshman year, she feels better prepared to succeed because of her success at KCC.

“Even though I am spending four years at a university, now I have a fallback on accounting and business management,” she said. “I can work not as a waitress.”