Waipahu High School’s Early College program celebrated a successful 12 years of helping students prepare for college, and it also welcomed 336 students for the Fall 2024 semester.

Early College started in the summer of 2012, where 30 students had taken a Psychology 100 course. Since then, Waipahu High Schools’ Early College now offers between 90 and 100 courses per year with a total of about 550 total students in the program.

Also known as “Olympians,” Early College has students that graduated with their high school diploma and associate’s degree. With the first graduates in 2018, Early College has helped 134 Olympians graduate so far.

As for this past school year, the class of 2024 welcomed 28 new Olympians, 28 new achievements for both the Early College Program and the hardworking students who achieved so much throughout their high school career. 

Early College Coordinator Steven De Silva gave his thoughts on the benefits of WHS’ Early College Program.

“FREE College Credit, gaining a college experience with college instructors,” Mr. De Silva explained, “Courses are offered at the Waipahu High School campus.”

Early College is a program that lets students take college classes for free. These students attend these classes after regular school, and the classes are taught by real college professors from one of the following partnered campuses: West Oahu, Leeward CC, Windward CC, Kapiolani CC, and Honolulu CC. After completing a class, these students will get real college credits, as well as a grade on their college transcript.

Not only is WHS one of the very few high schools in the state to offer Early College, but it is also the only high school that offers Phi Theta Kappa, a community college honor society. To get into this club, a student has to have a 3.5 college GPA and 12 college credits. 

Early College is a path of many opportunities. Every early college student, Olympian or not, walks away from this program with newfound skills. Whether it helped mentally prepare students for life after high school, helped students gain credits and experience, or helped students earn their first college degree. Early college is a door for anyone to open, and it is a door that ultimately no student regrets opening.