Casa Grande Homeschooled Student to Graduate from Central Arizona College and High School in May
By Angela Askey, Executive Director Public Relations and Marketing
Central Arizona College student, Elijah Mountz, will receive an Associate of Applied Science in Software Development with a Computer Programming emphasis on May 16. He will be receiving both his college degree and high school diploma in the same month.
Mountz, a homeschooled student from Casa Grande, AZ gives credit to his sister and his parents for encouraging him to dual enroll at CAC to pursue a college degree while completing high school. He explained, “My sister, Ruth paved the way in our family as the first homeschool student to also graduate with her associates degree.” He added, “My mother has taught at Central Arizona College for 11 years, and my parents thought that taking CAC classes while homeschooling would be a great opportunity. This grew into our family setting the goal of dual graduating from homeschool and CAC at the same time.”
While a student at CAC, Mountz not only took classes related to his major but participated in engineering and other independent study classes while working as a student employee in Information Technology Support Services. One of the highlights of his time at CAC was completing four consecutive semesters of the SCI195: High Altitude Balloon Payload course. Through this course he presented his reservation weather project at the American Indian Science and Engineering Society National Conference in San Antonio and won the Student Hackathon. About this experience, he stated, “I have really enjoyed the engineering classes I have taken at CAC. These classes are extremely well-mentored and provide hands-on experiences for solving real engineering problems. I would like to thank professors Armineh Noravian and Kimberly Baldwin for their support on this journey.”
Mountz provides this advice to others, “Do not underestimate yourself! I am no one special, you can do all these things too and more. All it takes is a strong community (which you will find here at CAC) and perseverance and grit to keep going, even when school and life get hard.” He added, CAC is a valuable asset to the homeschooling community, allowing us to broaden our education with high-level college classes. I’m extremely grateful for the opportunities CAC has provided for me, and every other homeschool student attending here as well.”
Following his graduation from CAC, Mountz will begin classes this fall at the University of Arizona where he has been accepted to the W. A. Franke Honors College and Engineering College. He has plans to join the UA’s Air Force ROTC and become an officer in the US Air Force or Space Force. His ultimate career goal is to work in the Department of Defense field.