When Olivia Muñoz earned an early high school graduation through California’s Hi-SET, her social life didn’t pause—it shifted. Now 17 and studying journalism and film at Los Angeles Pierce College, she describes the fear of leaving high school, the paperwork a
Pictures from high school still drift through Olivia Muñoz’s phone like they’re on a loop—friends at basketball games, college acceptances, the brightness of senior year. For a moment, the memories land in her chest like a weight.
Muñoz is a second-year student at Los Angeles Pierce College, studying journalism and film. She says she doesn’t regret graduating early as a sophomore. But she also can’t pretend it didn’t hurt.
Nearly 12,000 California students took the High School Equivalency Test, or Hi-SET, from 2024 to 2025, according to its annual statistics report. The Hi-SET lets students complete separate tests in subjects including language arts, math, science and social studies. If they pass, they can graduate early.
Her father first brought the idea to her in eighth grade. and he mentioned the “graduate-early” path in the summer before freshman year—long before she felt ready. In the independent study program she was enrolled in from elementary through middle school. she says she only wanted one thing: a more normal education. with friends. sports. and a steadier schedule than her schooling had offered.
She pushed back. Even so, the possibility stayed in the back of her mind, and she admits it appealed to her curiosity too—the chance to take the road less traveled and stand out, even as it scared her.
High school delivered a different rhythm. She tried out for the cheer team and made it as a junior varsity captain. She became president of her own Cinema Club. She also says she found a close-knit group of friends, and she discovered her love for journalism.
Still, a voice kept nudging her toward the testing route. She says she felt pulled between two roads—excited by what she had in front of her, but certain there was more she could reach. The decision came after three months where she simply took the tests and then decided whether to commit.
The moment of action was not calm. Her hands shook when she enrolled in the Hi-SET tests, and her heart pounded when she took them online. Weeks later, she received emails congratulating her on passing. Months after that, she received an official certificate of proficiency—thick with a glossy seal. By then, she knew what she would do.
Telling her friends meant swallowing the emotions she’d been holding back. She says she told them she was leaving high school. They hugged. They promised to hang out, even though she knew most of those promises would not come true, because their lives were beginning to pull in different directions.
For the grief that followed, she stayed in her bedroom. She let herself cry, describing waves of grief as she mourned what could have been. And she knew what that choice would cost: she would have to start over again in community college.
Planning for college at 17 came with its own pressure. Muñoz says she had to drive 30 minutes to Los Angeles Pierce College four times in two weeks just to get paperwork sorted out. Her first day on campus carried dread and anxiety. She sat in a statistics class with a group of 20- to 40-year-olds, her hands trembling.
Then the spring semester brought a change she says she could feel in her body. She began coming out of her shell and actively seeking journalism opportunities. Her passion—journalism—pulled her forward. and she describes it in the ordinary detail of everyday life. like golden poppies blooming on her walk to class. She connected more with classmates and professors. With that confidence, she joined the student newspaper, magazine and radio.
Support from her new campus community mattered, she says—especially because the contrast with her high school friends was constant. On Instagram and TikTok. she could see them living their own lives without her. moving through milestones she couldn’t take part in. She doesn’t feel like she missed out on everything. she says. but she acknowledges what was taken: she didn’t go to prom or senior sunset. and she couldn’t participate in the milestones that come with being an upperclassman in high school.
Even with those absences, she found something else. She says she was able to find a new community that encouraged her to pursue opportunities and helped her locate them. She adds that she’s done things she didn’t think she was capable of. and most importantly. she’s been able to “return the favor” to others.
For Muñoz, the lesson is personal rather than polished. Change is frightening, she says, but staying the same can be scarier. When she’s confronted with the choice between the road less traveled and the comfortable. beaten path. she points to her father’s words and urges a leap of faith into the unknown.
Muñoz is a second-year student at Los Angeles Pierce College studying journalism and film. She is a member of the EdSource California Student Journalism Corps.
Hi-SET early high school graduation California education Los Angeles Pierce College journalism education community college student experience EdSource California Student Journalism Corps