Abby Claggett is not only this year’s class valedictorian at Calvary Christian School, but she will also have a college degree before graduating from high school.
Claggett started taking classes at Gateway Community & Technical College in her freshman year of high school after her seventh-grade ACT score qualified her to enroll as a true freshman. She will graduate with an Associate of Arts degree from Gateway in May before taking the stage to give her valedictorian speech.
“[Graduating high school with a college degree], it’s really cool. It’s just like a weight off my shoulders kind of thing,” Claggett said. “I don’t have to worry about taking as many college years. It’s just like an accomplishment. Not everyone gets to say that.”
Claggett said she has always been arts-minded and isn’t big into science or math. Because of that, she saw herself going into English at the beginning of her college courses. Now, she said she has changed her mind and wants to pursue psychology.
Since Claggett put herself ahead, she will start classes at Northern Kentucky University in the fall, working toward her bachelor’s in psychology. She is also pursuing a creative writing minor to scratch her creative side. Upon completing that degree, Claggett said she intends to pursue her master’s in psychology.
Calvary Christian Middle/High School Principal & Guidance Counselor Melody Dickens said Claggett is an excellent student and an integral part of the Calvary Christian School community. During her high school career, she held leadership positions in student government and the National Honor Society. She also participates in swimming and tennis.
“Abby is a compassionate young lady and truly wants to help people,” Dickens said. “She keeps true to her morals and values.”
Dickens said Claggett and another student started sharing a morning devotional thought over the intercom to all the middle and high school students twice a week for the last two years.
Claggett said Cavalry Christian encourages kids to take the ACT early and supports them if they decide to pursue college courses. Dickens said if Claggett ever had questions or wanted to share something from her college classes, teachers and staff took the time to listen, help, and guide her. In addition, for students who take dual credit classes, the school provides an independent study class, giving them time during their high school day to work on their college classes.
Claggett’s dad, Todd Claggett, said she excelled at schoolwork early on and enjoyed homework. Claggett said she still remembers sitting in her honors algebra class in seventh grade and being told that was when student transcripts started counting toward being selected valedictorian. She remembers thinking she definitely wanted to go after that.
“[Being valedictorian], it’s been something I’ve kind of wanted my entire life,” Claggett said. “It’s something that I’ve definitely worked for, and when I found out, I was really ecstatic.”
Her graduating class is about 30 students. Calvary Christian is a private school, so Todd Claggett said it’s highly competitive academically.
“Especially Calvary, with it being a private school, it’s very, very hard competition,” he said. “Ever since she was a little girl, she’s always wanted to be at the top of her class.”
Claggett said her dad inspired her to consider starting her college career early. Todd Claggett had taken advantage of the same opportunity through the Kentucky Community & Technical College System in his junior year of high school when the program was named Lexington Community College.
“She excelled at schoolwork, and I knew she could handle the workload,” he said.
Todd Claggett said another perk of taking the classes in high school is that Gateway provides dual credit tuition reimbursement at 50% of the in-state tuition rate.
Claggett said she recommends starting college classes to any interested high school student.
“It just gives you a different perspective,” she said. “It opens a lot of doors and gives you a lot of experience, especially taking down the years you spent in college; it just gives you a better pathway to the future early on.”
