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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Running Start Students Will Graduate Twice This Spring

While his peers at Central Valley High are winding up a week of vacation, Brannon Zahand is wading through quantum physics.

Zahand, and 132 other Valley students in Running Start, had their spring vacation three weeks ago, when Spokane-area community colleges broke. The 18-year-old computer whiz spent that break improving Central Valley’s on-line network. This last week, he’s had his nose to the books while his high school friends cavort.

“I don’t think I’ve missed out on anything,” said Zahand, who, with a 4.0 gpa, is expected to be a class valedictorian.

Most Running Start students happily trade the high school’s social circus for the intellectual challenge and more mature friends they find on a college campus. Many lose contact with high school peers.

“I’ve always felt more comfortable with older people anyway,” said Tanya Walker, a University High senior. “I’m more interested in getting my education than the social scene.”

Instead of hitting every dance, the two Valley students will graduate this spring with a high school diploma and a two-year degree from Spokane Falls Community College.

Both students have attended the college full-time since the fall of their junior year.

Walker spent her spring break visiting colleges. Her first choice is University of Colorado, known for its medicine program.

“Sometimes I forget that I haven’t graduated from high school,” she said.

Other Running Start students share similar experiences.

“My friends think I’m dumb for missing out on the social stuff,” said Katie Boileau, a Shadle Park High senior. “But they’re kind of amazed that I have two years of college out of the way.”

That trade-off has prompted concern from some educators, who fear students lose critical social skills when they leave the high school campus too soon.

“I’ve heard comments from Running Start graduates saying they were way ahead academically and stunted socially,” said Carl Rogers of the state Higher Education Coordinating Board, which oversees public colleges.

Running Start students say the social opportunities on the college campus compensate for the loss of traditional social opportunities - like a spring break road trip.

The only drawback, says Zahand, is most friends want to go dancing at bars. He’s not 21 until the millennium.

Zahand is a millennium ahead of most of his high school peers. He’s fluent in sign language and plans to research French sign language while in Europe this summer.

He plans to make computer software for the deaf in college.

, DataTimes MEMO: Changed from the story that ran in the North Side Voice on April 10, 1997.

Changed from the story that ran in the North Side Voice on April 10, 1997.