Hinkley High School students on track to earn college degrees before diplomas in Colorado

A lot of students try to earn college credits in high school.

At Aurora's Hinkley High School, hundreds of students participate each year in concurrent enrollment with the Community College of Aurora.

Two Hinkley students are on track to earn enough credits to graduate high school with a full two years of college under their belts.

Laila Solorzano and Helen Hernandez plan to earn their associate degrees next spring before their high school graduation.

Both young women want to pursue health professions and now will save lots of money on that journey.

"It was a lot of hard work all four years," Solorzano said. "I kind of knew starting high school that I wanted to pursue that path. I look up to my sisters a lot for that and one of them graduated IB and the other graduated also with their Associate of Science."

Hinkley Principal Jennifer Abeyta-Cifuentes says many students at the school have a similar drive.

"We have a lot of students here that are motivated to change their lives, to change their family's lives and also change our community," she said. "That's one of my favorite things about Hinkley; is that they're very motivated to be the best, to do the best but at the same time, they're very motivated to uplift each other."

Hernandez said the program, combined with extracurriculars and work, has been a challenge.

"I feel like especially this past year, junior year, just because I have a job and that takes a lot of my time and then I also do sports and clubs like theater and choir," she said. "It was really hard."