Veronica was not a top-performing student during her first years at Clear Horizons Early College High School. But, like all students attending early college high schools, Veronica started taking classes at a community college while still in high school and realized that college might really be possible for her. So she didn't give up her dream of a four-year degree, even when her father lost his job and her family moved 1,500 miles away. Within a semester, Veronica had moved back to Houston alone (with her family's consent) to complete her last two years at Clear Horizons, including taking enough college classes to receive an associate's degree at the same time as her high school diploma.

As a high school senior, Veronica received several college acceptances, including a $20,000 scholarship from Baylor University, which she was able to enter as a junior. Her story is unusual for an early college high school student only because she is living alone. At all 200 early college high schools throughout the United States, students can earn a high school diploma and a two-year associate's degree simultaneously by taking dual-credit courses while in high school.