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Kristy Gabel - Post Secondary Enrollment Options

Fremont Ross graduate Kristy Gabel added a bachelor’s degree to her educational credentials in December 2004 and started her career in January.

What makes Kristy unique is that she was only 20 years old. Terra Community College and the Post Secondary Educational Options (PSEO) gave her the credits to leapfrog over others her age.

“I started taking Terra classes my junior year in high school,” she said. “I really enjoyed it and saw a lot of value in taking more classes. I filled my schedule up my senior year, trying to take as many classes as possible before I graduated.”

After graduating from Ross in 2002, Kristy enrolled at Adrian College and was already academically listed as a second semester sophomore. She graduated in December with a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Adrian.

On many levels, Kristy is glad she chose to participate in PSEO at Terra.

“Terra prepared me for the type of classes I would be in and the type of professors I would have later at Adrian,” she said. “I enjoyed the people I had classes with; it was people of all ages. At Terra, I actually had a class with my dad. He wanted to take a CAD class to learn how to do blueprints on computers and I decided to take it with him.

“Going to Terra was a great experience with very friendly people everywhere.”

In January, she began working as a financial advisor for Hantz Group, which has many offices in Michigan and two in Ohio. After interning with the company the summer before, she was offered the job several months before she graduated.

Kristy says the only downside of graduating early is that she is leaving behind all of her college friends who still have a year and a half to go. But the pros of PSEO are obvious.

“I got 1 ˝ years of college free at Terra and I got some experience,” she said.

Her advice to other high school students who are considering PSEO?

“Take basic classes, especially math and English, and get them out of the way,” she suggested.

Kristy is the daughter of Jeff and Mary Kay Gabel. She has two sisters, Jen and Courtney, and her brother, Eric, is a Terra graduate.