Maddison Hershey leaves her house for school every day by 7 a.m. She goes to a few high school classes, then over to her local community college for more. After that, she heads to work, not returning home until midnight.

Then she does her homework, gets a few hours of sleep and does it all again.

Hershey is among the roughly 8% of Maryland high school students who will walk across two graduation stages this month, earning her high school diploma from Perry Hall High School and her associate’s degree from the Community College of Baltimore County.

Gov. Wes Moore has pushed for more students to be like Hershey, getting an associate’s degree or certificate so they can enter the workforce sooner and boost the state’s economy.

But that’s not what Hershey is planning on doing. This fall, she’ll be heading to Salisbury University, to study biology for two years. After that, she’s planning on attending medical school, hoping to graduate as a 24-year-old before entering residency and, eventually, becoming an OBGYN.

“I always knew that I wanted to be in health care, that I wanted to be a doctor,” she said. “I knew being in school to become one would take a really long time, so I figured I might as well get started early.”

Hershey may not be who Moore had in mind when he pushed for more associate’s degrees and technical education this winter.

While announcing $111 million in cuts to the University System of Maryland — which includes Salisbury — the governor emphasized the importance of apprenticeships and strategic investments in community colleges and job training.

“I know we have some of the best four-year institutions in America here in the state of Maryland,” Moore said in January. “But we are going to end this myth that every single one of our students must attend one of them in order to be economically successful.”

But many of the high schoolers graduating with their associate’s degrees aren‘t stopping their education to enter the workforce. Instead, they’re using the state’s Career and Technical Education program to get ahead and graduate from a four-year institution in half the time.

The loss of two years of tuition revenue isn‘t something that colleges have concerns about, said Richard Kincaid, an assistant state superintendent at the Maryland Department of Education.

“Providing students a number of pathways into work is what we want to make sure we have available,” Kincaid said. “For some students, a four-year degree is going to make perfect sense, while others don‘t want that.”

Under the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future, the state’s ambitious education reform plan, high schools receive additional money for 10th-grade students who score at least a 4 out of 5 on the college and career readiness standard assessment, Kincaid explained. Those additional dollars cover the cost for dual enrollment.

Being able to attend community college for free makes many of the sacrifices worth it, Hershey said.

“I feel different from a lot of high schoolers,” she said. “I have a very mature mindset, and I only have a few friends, so it’s not as hard to balance.”

Nima Sichani said that he missed a lot of his friends from Walter Johnson High School when he started studying for his associate’s degree at Montgomery College, but that he made friends with the other high schoolers at the community college.

“We’re in a cohort and take classes at the college together, which makes it easier,” said Sichani, who plans to become a computer scientist.

Like Hershey, Sichani has always had his eyes set on a four-year college after getting his associate’s degree. He will start at the University of Maryland, College Park this fall and plans to graduate with his bachelor’s degree days after his 20th birthday.

“Ever since middle school my plan was to go to Montgomery College and do computer science,” he said. “When my parents found out about the opportunity of getting a head start on education, I was ecstatic.”

An added benefit: All of the costs of his first two years of college were covered through the career readiness program.

“Two full free years of college saves a lot of money, especially in an economy where most of the education we have available to us is so expensive,” Sichani explained.

Though he won‘t be entering the workforce right away, the aspiring computer scientist is still expecting to contribute to the economy earlier than his peers, when he begins looking for work as a 19-year-old.

Though Moore has repeatedly promoted apprenticeships and technical certificates rather than using community college to fast-track a bachelor’s degree, the ability of Maryland students to enroll in community college while still in high school will provide the state’s economy with a younger workforce, quicker.

For Syed Shah, a soon-to-be graduate of Anne Arundel Community College and Chesapeake Science Point Public Charter High School, getting to the workforce earlier is an exciting prospect.

“I want to be able to work,” he said. “I’m currently taking a class where I’m getting my Red Cross certification for first aid so I can do work with that.”

Shah plans to pursue his bachelor’s degree in nursing from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County starting this fall.

“It’s been really hard to balance, because I also play sports and want to spend time with my friends and family,” he said. “It’s a lot of hard work.”

Shah hopes to become an anesthesiologist to honor the name his father game him, which means “to benefit the world.”

“I’ve encouraged my siblings and my friends from the mosque to do the program,” Shah said. “I’m so grateful.”

About the Education Hub

This reporting is part of The Banner’s Education Hub, community-funded journalism that provides parents with resources they need to make decisions about how their children learn. Read more.