As the clock strikes on the final seconds of the final midterm in a senior’s career, they’ll scream and shout for being a second semester senior and all the fun and games that come along with it. But, there are three girls that will be running down the halls looking forward to getting a head start on their lives.

Ayden Schattman ’16, Deanna Hartog ’16 and Mia Bullock ’16 will be graduating in January, almost five months earlier than the rest of their classmates.

In order to graduate high school on the normal graduation date, all students must have completed 25 credits during their four years as a student. Within these 25 credits, however, are even finer requirements. Some of them consist of taking an area study, American government and three years of a language.

Bullock had been planning to graduate early ever since she stepped foot in Staples.

“I knew at that point that I had a real talent (swimming) and if I ever wanted to actually make it to the Olympics, I would have to purely focus on that without the pressures of school,” Bullock said.

Unlike most of her classmates, Bullock dedicated her summers to more school. Between freshman and sophomore year she took a math class and between sophomore and junior year she took American Government.

“It made it easier during the school year to balance my school and swimming and also it made it easier to focus on one subject during the summer,” Bullock said.

Hartog and Schattman, on the other hand, did not take summer classes. Hartog was able to receive credit from her various community service contributions and Schattman was be able to complete them during the school year.

While receiving 25 credits before January may seem hard to do, all three seniors were able to have a nice break in their jam packed school schedules and focus on things like homework, meeting with teachers and just having time to themselves.

What each Senior will be pursuing after they graduate is unique to each of them.

Schattman has always had a desire to pursue a career in the medical field and she found her second passion following her 10 day trip to Guatemala with Builders Beyond Borders. She’s found a way to combine these passions for her gap year.

“I’m traveling to Seville and Barcelona to shadow a doctor and intern in a lab,” said Schattman with a smile plastered across her face. “I even might be able to take classes at a university.”

Similar to Schattman, Hartog is a practicing EMT and wants to get a head start on her medical career second semester.

“I’m going to be spending a lot of time volunteering on the ambulance,” said Hartog.

She also noted that she is looking ahead to finding an internship that will let  her find herself and a better understanding of what she wants to do in college.

Bullock is taking a whole different path in her life from her fellow classmates.

She’s starting off her worldwide adventure by traveling to Australia for a month with her family and then she’s getting the rare opportunity to train alongside Australian Olympians.

“I am super excited to be pushed harder than I ever have been, have the opportunity to train with some of the best coaching staff in the world and swim outdoors everyday,” Bullock said.

Bullock is then off to Rochester, NY to train for six hours a day with the chance of getting a job.

Class of 2016 can tip their caps off to these three girls who are paving the their way out in the real world for the rest of the class to follow come June.