BLOOMSBURG, Pa. — Max Norfolk prepared for one of his last computer classes at Bloomsburg University. He is one of the hundreds of students who will graduate next weekend, but he is the only one who is also graduating from high school this year, too.
The 18-year-old is graduating from both college and high school within a few weeks.
"I just started taking a very small amount of classes in the very beginning, and once I got more comfortable, I bumped it up," Max said.
The Advanced College Experience or ACE program allows high school students to take college courses at Bloomsburg University. Max takes online classes at Danville Area High School in the evenings and is at Bloomsburg University in person on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It's a tradition that runs in his family.
"My older brother was in the program, and he graduated from Bloom one year after he finished high school. I have a younger brother and a younger sister both in the program currently," Max said.
"I've never seen anyone complete an entire degree during the ACE program before," said Bill Calhoun, who has had Max as a student for three years. "I think all of his peers were surprised to find out he was still in high school."
It's no surprise Max is a great student. He has a 4.0-grade point average.
"At one point, I realized, 'Oh, I can graduate both.' And I thought, 'Oh, that's kind of funny.' So then I took some extra classes to be able to hit that mark of being able to graduate both," Max said.
Max plans to pursue his Ph.D. at Penn State University this fall at the age of 18.
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