Young Fire Fighter Earns Degree

Brattleboro, Vermont — At just 18 years old, Jada Unruh from Vernon earned her associate’s degree in behavioral science on June 6, only one year after graduating from Brattleboro Union High school. Through CCV's Free Degree Promise, she balanced college coursework with training as a junior firefighter and EMT, building the skills she hopes will help people through some of life's most difficult moments.

While completing her degree, Unruh also graduated from the fire academy in January and finished EMT training for the Vernon Volunteer Fire Department.

“I graduated the fire academy back in January and will be finishing up EMT school in early June for my local volunteer fire-rescue department.”

When Unruh enrolled in CCV's Early College program, she chose behavioral science because she wanted to better understand people during times of crisis. As she explored the field, she realized she had found exactly what she was looking for. “When I discovered behavioral science and began to understand it, I realized that this is something that I'm passionate about: how can I help people? What happens when someone is in a crisis? How can we help people when this happens?”

Flexible online classes allowed her to juggle work, school, and volunteering, all while staying deeply rooted in her community. Today, she works as a dispatcher for a local law enforcement agency while pursuing a career as a behavioral health technician.

“I was never going to go to college. That was never the plan. And then I saw that CCV had options to be completely online, which allowed me to work full-time while being a student full-time. CCV allowed me to get a college education that I didn't want [at first], in an accessible way that helped me to feel comfortable doing it. Early College absolutely made college seem more achievable.”

With funding from the J. Warren and Lois McClure Foundation, approximately 50 Free Degree Promise students are graduating this spring, bringing the total number of graduates through this free, accelerated degree pathway to more than 250 since the program began. On average, these students earn their associate degrees just one year after high school graduation after completing their Early College year at CCV.

“Four years in, we are seeing students who may have once felt that college was out of reach finding a low-risk way to explore their interests and pursue a fast-track degree,” said Carolyn Weir, Executive Director of the J. Warren & Lois McClure Foundation.

Since the Free Degree Promise launched, triple the number of low-income students are accessing Early College at CCV and triple the number of Early College completers are persisting toward a CCV degree.

Students are pursuing careers in some of Vermont's highest-need fields. To date, 31% of Free Degree Promise students majored in Health Care and Behavioral Sciences, 23% in Business, Accounting and IT, 10% in Design and Media Studies, 8% in Early Childhood Education and 6% in STEM and Environmental Sciences. A large number of students also pursue liberal studies, which offers a transfer pathway to Vermont State University to become a K-12 teacher.

Free Degree Promise students are graduating at twice the rate, and in half the time as their peers nationally.