No one can call Austin Kemis a slacker.
The 18-year-old will graduate from Monroe High School with twice as many course credits as required, thanks to a driven personality and hours spent inside college classrooms.
By commencement, he’s expected to have racked up 46.5 credits, compared with the high school’s 22.5-credit graduation requirement.
“It’s very satisfying to be able to put that on paper,” said Kemis, who has been accepted to the University of Washington.
Monroe High counselor Marcie Nashem said she doesn’t know of another senior with as many credits. “It’s a tremendous amount of work,” she said.
“And it’s not basket weaving,” she added. “He’s taking tough courses.”
More than half of Kemis’ credits come through Running Start, which allows juniors and seniors to take courses tuition-free at community colleges that also count for high school credits.
To maximize that value, Kemis took courses at Everett Community College during his summer vacations as well as over the past two school years.
He took several engineering classes, as well as chemistry, calculus and other heavy courses with technical names such as “Kinematics and Dynamics.”
To stay connected with friends, he continued to play alto saxophone in the high school’s jazz band and wind ensemble.
Based on his high school courses alone, Kemis is a 4.0 student. But even with the tougher college load, he’s pulling in A’s and B’s with a combined grade-point average above 3.7.
Kemis started pushing himself in Virginia, where he took high school-level algebra, geometry and Spanish in middle school.
Although born in the area, his family moved away when he was 6 to follow his father’s career as a pilot. They settled back in Monroe near family the summer before his sophomore year.
Kemis hopes to attend the UW’s College of Engineering and “see if I can apply the gray matter up here to good things,” he said, tapping his head.
For now, he’s looking forward to wearing a cap and gown.
“I’m ready to move on to new and exciting things,” he said.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
