Early Graduation For South Milwaukee Students And Other Headlines

South Milwaukee was the focus of a WUWM story on area schools allowing January graduations.

Check it out here. From it:

South Milwaukee High School is among those in metro Milwaukee that allow January graduations, and it has seen the numbers grow since changing its credit requirements and class scheduling a few years ago.

All we spoke with, Rachel Rosploch, Serena Hinojosa, Lois Applegate, Susan Yang, Amberae Northrop, Nicholas Hofmann and Olivia Oddis, plan to attend college, and most say they need to save money beforehand because of the expense of higher ed.

Their concerns include missing friends and final semester activities – such as spirit week, though a few say high school traditions never meant much to them.

Guidance Counselor George Cleveland says January graduates who are mature and have a well-constructed plan for themselves can succeed – even if college begins just a day or two after high school ends. However, he says others return for the ceremony in June and tell him they wish they had remained in high school until then. Some are not ready for the unstructured life college abruptly delivers.

For those who want to graduate a semester early, Cleveland says there’s no slumping. They must stay on top of their academics.  Some seniors say high schools that allow early graduation should inform freshmen, so they can plan accordingly and not ‘slide’, their first few semesters. 

And check out these other South Shore headlines.

• Special Report: How Caterpillar Got Bulldozed In China (Reuters)
• Weak Mining Demand Will Continue To Dig Into Caterpillar Results (NASDAQ.com)
• Municipal Building Site Plans Approved (NOW)

Also, NOW has published a new police blotter.