First, you go to High School. Then, you go to college. That’s how it’s been done for years, but that’s not how it has to be done in this day and age, and Hoisington High School senior Taylor Schwartz is living proof. Thanks to a combination of online and summer class options at Barton Community College, she is graduated from high school on Sunday and this Friday she will graduate from Barton with her associate degree in general science. 

Not only will she graduate, Schwartz will do so with highest honors as a member of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society and has also been nominated for Outstanding Graduate at Barton. In addition, she has worked full time throughout parts of her high school career.

Barton Biology Instructor Charlotte Cates said she is proud of Schwartz’s accomplishments. 

“It’s a huge accomplishment,” she said. “Just the amount of commitment it showed. She just works incredibly hard and is definitely managing her time well.”

Schwartz started taking online classes via Barton her freshman year of high school. She started with Medical Terminology. She continued to take more classes and particularly enjoyed Anatomy and Physiology and Biology classes. She will attend the University of Kansas and plans to become an obstetrician-gynecologist. 

Schwartz said it took the support of many people throughout her educational journey for her to be able to succeed.

“I am very grateful to the teachers who have gotten me here and to my family for pushing me to do this and to help me through it,” she said. “It’s just really exciting and I’m very grateful.”

Schwartz said she is looking for apartments in Lawrence and is ready to continue working towards her medical career. “I’m really excited to get hands-on and do even more medically focused classes,” she said.