First-year students commonly arrive at Roger Williams Uni­versity with a few credits that have carried over from their high school course load, credits that may allow them to lighten their course load for a semester. However, one second-year stu­dent arrived at RWU last year with more credits than most students have by the end of their sophomore year.

Kara DeAngelis, a current sophomore, or senior as some see it, is planning to gradu­ate from RWU this May after spending only two years at the university. DeAngelis began her education right here in the small state of Rhode Island by attending North Providence High School. "At the high school, they offered EEP classes, which are early enrollment pro­gram classes that are through local colleges," DeAngelis said. These EEP classes provide col­lege credit for a small fee of $50 per credit taken. In order to be eligible for the credit, a grade of a B+ or higher must be obtained. "I wanted to take as many classes in high school that would count for college credit as I could," DeAngelis said. She enrolled in physics, chemistry, english writing, humanities, and political science, all count­ing for college-level credit. This left only one class at North Providence High School under the EEP program that she had not taken.

During her third year in high school, DeAngelis was accepted into a pilot program through Providence College, a program that monitored college prepara­tion. She enrolled in two class­es, each worth three credits. As most high school seniors ap­proach graduation, it is expect­ed that they have accomplished something over the four years spent in classes. For DeAngelis, she had done a little more than one would expect. Graduat­ing high school with 43 college credits caused the RWU ad­missions offices to have to stop and think about her placement. "When I came into school last year, they didn't really know whether to consider me a fresh­man, junior, or transfer," DeAn­gelis said. She said that with the help of a good advisor, she was able to figure out her two-year plan for the school. Originally, though, her plan was to stay for three years and graduate a year early. Currently a second-year student majoring in english lit­erature, DeAngelis' academic workload did nothing close to slow down. Taking the average course load of five classes per se­mester her first year, she found that she was able to increase the workload going into her second year. Last semester, she was en­rolled in seven full-time courses on campus, and currently is enrolled in six. "My day usu­ally runs from about 7 a.m. to 1 a.m., and about 70 percent of that time is used for doing work or attending classes," DeAngelis said of her academic schedule.

Some may see DeAngelis' suc­cess as an academic gift, but she describes it as six years of dedicated work. "The workload throughout it all has been the toughest part, although it hasn't always been hard. It increases greatly when papers and home­work start to get assigned, espe­cially for seven different classes," DeAngelis said. "I am so excited that I am graduating early. I feel accomplished because I have worked and pushed so hard to get to where I am."

DeAngelis said that her best friend has been very supportive and will be graduating a year early next year. "Everyone has been so supportive of every­thing I have tried, especially my father, who helped me not get lost in the college system, and really helped me to get to where I am now," DeAngelis said.

While DeAngelis will be able to enjoy her commencement this coming spring, she knows that she'll still have two summer classes to finish in the following months. "My dream is to be­come a professor of English at the college level, so I am apply­ing to graduate schools in the fall," DeAngelis said. She un­derstands that although it may be the ending to a short college career, she still has a long way to go. Even through all of the aca­demic requirements, DeAngelis still manages to find time to re­lax and have fun. She concluded by joking and commenting on a unique experience that was of­fered to her. "Because I never re­ally had a junior year, the school allowed me to attend the Junior Semi-Formal this year, and also because I am graduating, I am allowed to attend Commence­ment Ball in May," DeAngelis laughed. Not many RWU soph­omores can say that.