[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/07/06/art.chase.abrams.jpg
caption=”Chase Abrams, 18, finished high school and college at the same time.”]
To pull 18-hour days for four years and live to smile about it must mean you’re on a mission of your own choosing. And, that Chase Abrams was. His mission: complete high school and college at the same time.
“I didn’t have a lot of support at my high school, but it just made me more hungry,” Chase, 18, tells me. That hunger got him up at 5 a.m. to get to the gym during football season, then back at 6:30 a.m. to take his sister to school, then to his high school campus from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Insistent on having a “normal life,” he had football practice from 3:30-4:30 p.m., then fought Los Angeles rush hour to get to his college classes at Cal State University, Los Angeles from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., getting back home at 11 p.m. to get to bed to start it all again. A few weeks ago, it paid off when he walked across two stages, holding two diplomas. “I wouldn’t have had it any other way,” Chase says, knowing that the time he spent pulling double-duty will save his family money in the long-run.
Don’t call him “Doogie” yet. He chuckles at the comparison, but is rather intrigued by it. While most of his friends are going to four-year colleges, “I’m thinking about medical school,” he says focusing on the next mission.
Update: Watch the CNN.com Live interview
Young People Who Rock 
Congrats Chase!!!! going to miss you when i leave to new york!!!!!
Wow…. you really outdid yourself. Good job. 🙂
such a guy! go chase go!i am fan from romania. we dont have your sport here and only watching tv and gathering small groups of lads and playng ourselves teams from the city: http://www.presaonline.com/stiri/sport/simbata-turneu-de-fotbal-american-pe-ghencea-605517.html
best wishes and good luck with medical school too!
At it for 18 hours each day? This Chase must have a huge fire in his belly! Congrats just the same.
Chase, Kudos to you. Whatever the drive that made you ‘want’ to experience high school and college simultaneously, continue the drive to be bettter than expected. Kudos also to the parents/guardians who instilled in you, good values to excel. Many continued Blessings to you and your family!
It is not the destination that matters, it is the journey. Chase, slow down and enjoy your life! We live in a competitive and hurried society, but we realize all to late that we all reach the same end. Journey, my friend, journey!
Kudos to you!! But I’m curious, don’t you need a high school diploma to be able to attend college?
wow……..God job.
http://easy-life-gadget.blogspot.com
That is wonderful. It’s great to see such drive in our youth. That is truly an inspiration to youth everywhere. Many things as possible with dedication and a commitment to succeed.
I always wish that I saw more students taking advantage of dual enrollment programs at their schools. However, I would not recommend doing both full-time to other students. Part of being in high school and college is the experience, especially in college. You don’t get to redo your college days if you miss out. If the driving force was to save the family money I say job well done! Now in the workforce, I do hope that this young man will take some time to enjoy his youth as he begins his career. At 18, you are still growing, and that adolescent and young adult development stage is important in shaping the adult to come.
You have done something amazing Chase. Way to go!
good for you! congratulations
That is Awesome!!. I am so proud of you and goodluck in the future!!
As a fellow Sierra Canyon senior…
In no way, shape, or form should Chase Abrams be receiving the kind of recognition American journalism has been giving him.
It disturbs me that someone who barely passed his senior year of high school should be a role model exemplified in all of these bogus articles.
Chase was a lazy, uninvolved, and rude pupil in our school’s community.
I am not bitter about Chase’s so-called “success”, I am instead disturbed that all of a sudden Chase has become the representation of a perfect Sierra Canyon student.
Let it be known, Chase is no Doogie Howser. Fellow teachers, students, faculty, and even coaches will agree when I say he is the scar on Sierra Canyon’s Class of 2009.
First let me say, congrats. But can you tell me whether he received a 4-year degree or an associate degree. I say this because they are quite a few colleges called “Early Colleges” which allow students to enroll in high school and take college courses at the same time. Because of this opporunity quite a few students are graduating from high school with an assoicate degree in hand. The university that I work at, YSU, has this type of program. The students are at-risk students, and recently we graduated a merit scholar.
SCStudent: It sounds like you’ve got some very bitter sour grapes. Even if Chase barely passed SC as you allege, he still pulled a 3.6 GPA in college which is pretty darn good by any standard. To call him “lazy” is just plain ludicrous if you look at the schedule he maintained for the past 4 year. I don’t very many high school students who have enough focus and drive to do that. If more American kids followed Chase’s work ethnic, this entire country would be much better off. Stop focusing on Chase and start focusing on your own success in life.
Sctudent… get over yourself! You’re just jealous because Chase has gotten farther than you. Go sit in a corner and suck your thumb.
All of these people are wonderful, hard working, and inspirational. My question is: Where are the young people in this country making a difference on issues that will effect not only our future but the future of our entire world and many generations to come. We are on the brink of either global catastrophe on an environmental and political level or a generational triumph over these things like none seen before. We have to come together as a generation across the entire nation and the world and decide what must be done and choose who should do it. sorry to be so vague, just trying to sum up a feeling that has been under my skin for too long
Good job… congratulations!
http://www.comopuedoganardinero.com
really want to be part of yong people who rock.,pls tellme how
and i really like to be a part of cnn,pls tell me how