Education fast track: high school senior first to complete WCC certificate
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on December 26, 2016 8:01 AM
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Tyler Weeks, 17-year-old Wayne Christian School senior, along with Austin Boyd, background left, and Taurean Armstrong snap poles together to form a 9 square court, a game that will be played during a Christmas gathering at the First Penacostal Holiness Church gym. Weeks is working at the church as part of an internship that will earn him college credit while he is still in High School.
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Tyler Weeks, a senior at Wayne Christian School, postions a newly assembled 9 square court in the gym of the First Pentacostal Holiness Church gym Wednesday. The 17-year-old also plays in the church band, participates in sports, works part-time at Christian Soldier and takes college classes at Wayne Community College, where he recently became the first student im the dual enrollment program to complete a certificate in the Career and College Promise Program. He will continue his studies there in the spring, toward his two-year business degree.
Tyler Weeks is a Nana-quoting, job-and-school-juggling teen who holds down an internship and plays in the band at his church.
The Wayne Christian senior also just learned that he is the first dual-enrolled student at Wayne Community College to complete a certificate in the Career and Technical Education pathway and continuing in college classes by entering into the two-year business administration program through the Career and College Promise Program, or CCP.
The tuition-free program has actually been around since the 1980's ---- under various monikers, including Jump Start ---- affording high school students the opportunity to earn college credits while completing requirements for a high school diploma.
CCP was former Gov. Beverly Perdue's initiative introduced in 2012, said Lorie Waller, coordinator of high school programs at the college.
Waller started working with Weeks during his junior year, in the fall of 2015.
"He chose business administration -- students choose a curriculum program and once they finish, they would earn a certificate in that particular curriculum, end of story," she said. "The state has opened the gates for students who have completed the certificate, and he's the first one to do this at Wayne. As of Dec. 16, he completed those six classes to earn his certificate.
"Now what the state's allowing him to do is continue in the program toward the two-year degree."
The cost savings is impressive, she pointed out.
A typical college student, taking the same six classes, would have paid $1,460 in tuition. The state picks up the tab for the high school students, who only have to pay student fees -- about $150.
Weeks, who will graduate from high school in June, is also enrolled for classes at WCC in the spring and is eligible under CCP to enroll for summer courses.
"The state wants to see completers go on," Mrs. Waller said. "That's why they open the gates, if you will, to continue whatever curriculum program they started."
At one time this would have been the end of the road for them, she said, but as of the fall 2016, the state said students can proceed toward a degree.
The 17-year-old admits he hadn't given much thought to pursuing college courses until he learned a classmate was in the program.
"I'm not the smartest kid in my class. I'm not valedictorian, I'm not the second thing, whatever it's called," he said with a laugh. "I'm probably not the Top 5.
"But my buddy Drake told me about this class he was taking and he was like, man, we get out of school early. I said, 'OK, let's do it.'"
The effort has paid off. He took online and hybrid classes, a combination of online and seated courses.
"Man, this is pretty cool," he said, drawing upon something his grandmother, Carolyn Weeks, told him.
"My Nana's always told me to be a hard worker. She's like, 'if you work hard enough, you can get ahead of your class.' So I did," he said. "I started taking two classes at a time, which doesn't sound like a lot, but when you've got five on top of that at the high school ---- seven classes ---- that was a lot."
He praised Mrs. Waller for guiding him through the process.
"Mrs. Waller is an amazing lady," he said. "She is the sweetest person I've ever met in my life.
He started by taking some business classes. Then, he took some more.
"I took another set of them and before I knew it I had been on track the whole time to get my business administration certificate. I went to sign up for my classes last time and she told me that I was the first person to finish it while in high school. I about freaked out because stuff like that never happens to me. I'm never first at anything."
In addition to his academic pursuits, Tyler plays football and basketball, has participated in the Judgement House annual drama at First Pentecostal Holiness Church, where he also plays guitar in the R12 band and has an internship with Matt Nunn, the middle school pastor.
He also holds down a part-time job at Christian Soldier.
Tyler is definitely a busy young man who boasts a "closet in his car" for those days he has to drive from school to work to sports practice.
"Nana always told me, when you have something to do, it's great. It's better than sitting at home," he said of his paternal grandmother, whom he calls his best friend.
"She always told me that there are people who watch things happen and people who make things happen."
He has great respect for his elders, although Nana may take issue with that, he says.
"Nana says, 'Don't call me old, I'm a used teenager,'" he said with a smile, before rattling off a partial list of those who have made an imprint on his young life.
"I have my Nana, my job, a coach who really cares, (people at my church), and of course my mom and dad. They were almost divorced and the Lord has taught me about healing," he said. "I have been blessed to have miracles that people don't even see."
He counts his parents, Rick and Beverly Weeks, and younger sister, Macy, 12, as his biggest supporters.
Future plans after high school include pursuing a degree and possibly opening up a music shop or a rest home.
"My mom's always told me this (business) is a degree you can use for a lot of things," he said. "The thing I really want to do is one day to be able to provide for my family.
"I have always learned that money is not everything but as long as you have family and friends and God, that's really all you need in this life."