Kulm High School senior to graduate with associate degree

Mar. 27—KULM, N.D. — A Kulm High School senior will have her high school diploma and an associate degree when she graduates on May 18.

Faith Pullen will have an associate degree for her general education from Grand Canyon University in Phoenix.

"She basically met all the requirements for science, math, history, English, all the prerequisites before she can dive into her major," said Angela Pullen, Faith's mother.

Faith is the daughter of David and Angela Pullen of Edgeley, North Dakota. She went to school in the Edgeley Public School District through middle school before transferring to Kulm High School her freshman year.

Faith will graduate with 60 credits from Grand Canyon University.

Angela said Faith's projected grade-point average — an accumulation between Grand Canyon University and Kulm High School — will be between 3.3 and 3.5. She said four classes on the high school side have not been graded yet.

Kulm High School Principal Adam Schlepp said he doesn't know anyone else in the school district who has earned an associate degree and a high school diploma simultaneously.

"We've got several students every year that are working with dual credits ... but none that have taken it this far," he said.

Faith said she wanted to pursue an associate degree because she thought it would be easier for her in the long run.

"It's definitely cheaper that way," Angela said.

Angela said Faith now has a scholarship with Grand Canyon University.

"She doesn't have to worry about finishing her bachelor's degree which we all know is expensive because it's 120 required credits to finish," she said. "I was able to pay for half of her college at a third of the price ... so in the long run it saved her a mortgage and it saved me $50,000."

Faith plans to major in criminal profiling at Grand Canyon University. She previously planned on majoring in English, computer programming and graphic design.

Faith said she started with English because she enjoyed writing, especially when it came to other languages, and enjoyed classic literature growing up. She then went into computer science because there are high-demand jobs in that field and she builds and codes as a part-time hobby. She thought about graphic design because she creates traditional and digital art for animations and 3D sculpting but decided against it because of the difficulty of finding jobs in that field.

She eventually settled on criminal profiling because she enjoyed watching criminal documentaries growing up.

"My mother and father, law enforcement and military, so they told me a lot of things about the criminal world and I went 'I'm really interested,'" Faith said. "I really like to analyze things.

"I love a job that would be based on facts and facts alone without the biased opinions and I need something that I can put on the table and say, 'This is what this is, no doubt about it,'" she said.

Faith speaks three different languages — French, Latin and German — and plays over 20 instruments. Faith said she was required to take two years worth of language in high school. She said she chose the three languages "just for the fun of it."

Faith said she can play instruments in a percussion ensemble. She can play the cello, violin, bass and acoustic electric guitar, piano and ukulele.

Faith was the percussion and drumline captain for her middle school band at Edgeley. Faith also was substitute band teacher while she was job shadowing the position.

"So I directed the piano with choir and I directed part of the band," she said.

Angela said it took "a village" for it to be possible for Faith to obtain an associate degree while attending high school. She said Faith has Asperger's syndrome and a normal class environment was too intrusive for her.

"It was a little too loud, too noisy, too bright," Angela said.

She said the school allowed Faith to study in the library and do many of her classes online. Faith got to study in an unconventional environment that allowed her to excel, she said.

Schlepp said the school district's counselors worked with Angela and Faith on the dual-credit courses.

"Before we even told her that she could do this plan, we wanted to know what she was going to do freshman year, sophomore year, senior year, all the way through to make sure she had her high school credits that would count for the dual credit," he said.

Schlepp said Faith replaced a lot of high school classes with dual-credit classes.

"The danger in that is if you fail it, you don't earn your high school diploma and that's the scary part," he said. "That's why we typically don't push our kids that direction in house."

Brandy Klusmann, counselor at Kulm Public School, said it took a lot of communication between the Pullens, administration and herself.

"They did a great job of mapping out classes that she was planning to take and getting that information to me where I could take it and see what sort of North Dakota course codes fit so we could get her the high school credit along with the college credit and make sure she first and foremost stayed on track to get her high school diploma," Klusmann said.

Klusmann also communicated with Grand Canyon University on what courses Faith was taking. Klusmann said the university sent her a syllabus of each course Faith took so she knew what was being taught.

Klusmann then matched each course with the North Dakota code to make sure Faith was getting the right high school credits required.

"We discussed a lot with Faith's parents as well because there were certain courses that she was taking that we just couldn't find a high school course that matched and they were fine with that too because she was ultimately working for that associate degree as well," she said.

Angela said the family is grateful for the school district's help.

"It was amazing that the school was able to take everything into consideration of what she's capable of and say, 'OK, here you go,'" she said. "That's practically unheard of."