Early College High School

After learning she could graduate high school with a diploma and an associate degree from College of The Albemarle (COA), for free, Mallory Fields did not hesitate to respond with a resounding “yes” when she received the acceptance letter to JP Knapp Early College High School.

While at COA, Mallory excelled in her studies and was an active member of the Student Government Association (SGA) — eventually serving as President and an ex officio member of the COA Board of Trustees. She graduated from COA with an Associate in Arts in May 2020, having been accepted to Virginia Tech for the fall.

She says her early college high school experience at COA was amazing, and prepared her for university life in ways she did not expect. “When I arrived at Virginia Tech, I was filled with confidence. I found myself reaching out to people to make friends — before being a part of SGA, I was never this outgoing. I owe so much of my college experience to the fundamental skills I built at COA.”

Mallory plans to graduate from Virginia Tech in 2023 with a bachelor’s degree in General Biology and hopes to enroll in Virginia Tech’s graduate program for Genetics, Bioinformatics and Computational Biology in her pursuit of a career in genetic analysis and genetic modification.