Graduate Story: Briana Hiscox
Graduate Briana Hiscox
Briana Hiscox
Major: Engineering Science
Hometown: Colchester
Love of Learning Leads to Great Success
Briana Hiscox is not your average 16 year old. While most students her age are going to high school and thinking about colleges to attend, Briana will not only be graduating from Great Path Academy this spring, she will also be receiving her associate degree in Engineering Science from Manchester Community College (MCC) on May 31, 2012.
Hiscox chose to attend Great Path Academy, after being homeschooled, because it offered her the opportunity to be challenged by college-level classes while still allowing her to have the traditional high school experience.
Briana has enjoyed all of the teachers she has encountered during her time here at MCC and says they have all been very helpful. She credits Catherine Seaver, Director of Business, Engineering and Technology, with assisting in her transition from high school to college classes and helping her get into the classes she needed to earn her degree and high school diploma at the same time.
“I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to work with Briana for the past few years,” Seaver said, “She amazed me not only with her intelligence and drive but also her ability as a young high school student to fit into a college class with other engineering students. More than once, her teachers told me they did not know she was a Great Path Academy student and they were amazed when they found out.”
Briana also took advantage of opportunities to be involved with other areas of the campus, such as tutoring and volunteering to be a student worker with summer engineering camps. “ I will miss her when she graduates but I’m confident she will be successful in everything she does in the future,” added Seaver.
In addition to her class load, Briana works as a tutor in the math center and admits that sometimes it takes a lot of self-motivation to keep pushing through all the work she has, when sometimes she would just rather sleep! However she knows her hard work will all be worth it.
Outside of school, Hiscox enjoys participating in robotics competitions with her local high school and found it interesting that some of the metal tools she learned to use in the robotics competitions were the same tools she used in her sculpture class here at MCC. She also takes Tae Kwon Do and is second degree black belt.
When asked why education is important to her, Briana replied, “Without education you can’t have a bright, successful future. I really love learning things.”
In the fall Briana will continue her education by attending UConn to study engineering and one day in the future hopes to have a job in the field of nuclear engineering research. This is one student whose love of learning is certain to help her accomplish great things!
Great Path Academy, a middle college high school established in 2002, is an inter-district magnet school. It offers students an educational experience that bridges the gap between high school and college by providing opportunities to enroll in college classes. The school is designed to provide an exceptional and innovative learning environment that helps students from diverse backgrounds develop the skills and knowledge needed for success in post-secondary education. Students at the school are admitted through the Regional School Choice lottery system.
Students of any age who possess the desire to pursue higher education are welcome at Manchester Community College. MCC is proud of its academic excellence, new facilities, flexible schedules, small classes,, low tuition and faculty with both academic and “real world” credentials. The College offers over 60 programs, transfer options, financial aid and scholarships, as well as access to baccalaureate degrees through guaranteed admissions programs with several universities. MCC is situated on a park-like campus and is easily accessible from I-84.
