Sitting out from gym class may seem like a waste of time, but for VHS “senior” Troy Locatell, it changed his life.

Unable to change for gym in the beginning of his junior year of high school, Troy eagerly searched for something to ease his boredom. Troy fell to reading the school handbook, his only source of entertainment. It was in this book that Troy discovered he had met all of the requirements for his high school career; he had enough credits to graduate as a junior.

At first this thought seemed far-fetched and unattainable, but Troy decided he would follow up on the idea of an early graduation and talk to his guidance counselor.  Counselor Colleen Green was caught off guard by Troy’s request; it was not very often a student asked to graduate high school after a mere three years.  Ms. Green was fully supportive of Troy and helped him to propel full force into his third and now senior, year at VHS.

           
In order to begin his senior year, Troy had to enroll in two English classes. He chose to take English IV and AP Lang. This may seem like a challenge to many, but Troy says it is no problem.

           
“It’s not any harder than my normal schedule would be,” Troy explains. “The extra English was comfortable because I like English. My hard classes are still my hard classes”.

           
The decision was fine with Troy’s mom.  In fact, she took a similar path when she was in high school. As a senior, she combined her last year of high school with her freshman year of college. She attended NYU to make this possible.  So her reaction to Troy’s decision was unique; it was nothing new to her.

Troy says he considers himself to truly be a senior; he says he has always felt more a part of the class of 2012 anyway. None of the seniors taunt him about skipping a grade, he gets along well with them; they have been very welcoming.

“All of my friends are in that grade,” Troy says. “I have always hung out with those people so the transition was easy”.

Troy’s teachers are also supportive of his decision; they think that he is ready to be a senior.

“He’s good” says Troy’s history teacher Christine Sepcie. “I’m not surprised. He’s mature, studious, and worldly”.

The juniors do not seem to mind Troy skipping a grade; if anything, they are jealous. Troy’s decision to skip a grade is not something that people ordinarily consider. Troy himself did not even realize it was possible until that fateful day that he did not change for gym.

 “Being given a year of time back that you would have spent on school is a big deal. You can do whatever you want,” Troy says.

Next year, Troy plans to either attend Montclair State University or take a gap year. Troy would spend his gap year doing things that he loves such as traveling and volunteering across the world. He wishes to travel to obscure, poor countries where the people are in need of help.

“I will volunteer for anything,” Troy says. “But I want to find something where you talk to people, to lift people’s spirits, something where I’m working directly with people”.

In the future, Troy sees himself working with people. If he decides to attend MSU, he intends to study psychology.