(RED OAK, Texas) – Eight seniors from a public charter school system in Dallas and Ellis counties are the first high school students to receive certificates of completion in Cybersecurity from Texas State Technical College’s North Texas campus, less than a month before they graduate from high school.
Daniel Reedy, a student at Life High School Oak Cliff, and Life High School Waxahachie’s Natalia Davis, Georgina Jasso, Ryan New, Dillan Powell, Morgan Prewitt, Timothy Strachan and Aidan Tutt-Turner wore their high school caps and gowns as they walked across the stage at TSTC’s Spring 2025 Commencement held in late April in Waxahachie. Both high schools will have graduations on Friday, May 23.
“It is heartwarming to see them complete a task that was difficult to achieve,” said Alysa Shull, senior counselor at Life High School Waxahachie. “They did it.”
Powell said receiving the certificate made him the first in his family to graduate from college.
“They wanted me to do better than them,” Powell said about his family. “My mom is living through me since I am doing the things she could not do. She was very proud and my father was as well, along with my grandparents.”
The students began taking online Cybersecurity courses during their junior year. The students took classes at their home campuses using TSTC’s program curriculum.
“I love to mess around with computers all the time,” Reedy said. “TSTC offered to teach me how to do that on a more advanced level and get paid substantially for it.”
Davis had an interest in technology before she signed up to take the dual enrollment classes. She said she enjoyed working at her own pace while still meeting program deadlines.
The students said that Linux, an open-source operating system, was a challenge to learn.
“You had to really wing it and hope you figured it out,” Tutt-Turner said.
The students have their plans set for fall.
Davis plans to attend Navarro College in Corsicana and pursue an associate degree in Paralegal Studies, but he wants to get a cybersecurity job while in school.
Reedy will attend the University of North Texas (UNT) in Denton and pursue a bachelor’s degree in Cybersecurity. He also wants to get an internship at a cybersecurity company. Powell also plans to go to UNT to study Studio Art but is still keeping cybersecurity in mind.
Tutt-Turner aims to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Cybersecurity at Lamar University in Beaumont.
Besides Cybersecurity, the Life High School campuses had students this school year taking dual enrollment courses with TSTC in the Diesel Equipment Technology, HVAC Technology and Welding Technology programs. This fall, the schools will also have some students taking courses in TSTC’s Computer Networking and Systems Administration program.
For more information on TSTC, go to tstc.edu.