Teen graduates from high school after obtaining college degree

Two weeks after graduating from college, a Colorado Springs teenager received his high school diploma.

Jacob Reichard was the salutatorian at the Colorado Springs Early Colleges graduation Friday. The charter school allows students to obtain college credits, and even a degree, while still in high school. Reichard obtained a Bachelor of Innovation in Computer Security degree from the University of Colorado in Colorado Springs College of Engineering and Applied Science.

“(I’m) glad it’s finally over. The chaos of the past four years end in about two hours,” he said before his graduation.

As he leaves school, Reichard takes with him a special project with a lot of meaning for him. One of his classes at UCCS required him to lead a group on a project. While most were business-oriented, his project was to help a man raise money for a kidney transplant.

“They have insurance that will cover the actual procedure. What they don’t have is insurance that will cover care before or after, or any medicine, things like that.”

Reichard has a personal reason for choosing that project, and he will continue to help, even though school is out.

“What they’re going through really touched me, because my grandmother is fighting kidney disease, but it’s too late for her. She can’t get a transplant,” he said.

In his speech as salutatorian, Reichard invited his classmates to follow the advice he did, which helped him in his achievements, and that’s to “be unreasonable.”