Ammon student earned associates degree while in high school, plans to intern at INL
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AMMON — Keaton Adams just graduated and has earned his associates degree while attending Hillcrest High School.
The 18-year-old took classes at the College of Eastern Idaho.
“I took classes freshman and sophomore year and the start of junior year that apparently just helped. Then, halfway through junior year, one of the counselors went, ‘Hey you could get your associates,’ so I just took a few more classes,” Keaton explained.
Other accomplishments include Keaton making it to state for the second year in a row at Hillcrest High School for tennis. He says he enjoys the sport because, “It is just you. You have to prove yourself.”
The same is true in chess. He has been the president of the chess club.
“It’s a game where you can work hard and it directly correlates to your results,” he said.
Keaton recently was part of a team of students that went to the U.S. Department of Energy National Science Bowl Competition in Washington DC. It’s an nationwide academic competition that tests students’ knowledge in all areas of science and mathematics.
He plans to attend the University of Idaho. He said he got a presidential scholarship, which covers slightly more than half of his tuition.
Keaton is looking forward to attending college and being independent.
He has an internship lined up at the Idaho National Laboratory. He figured it was a great way to go into his career after college.
He’s hoping that he can be a researcher one day in pathology, due to the interests he’s had taking science classes in school.
“I was always fascinated with microbiology and all the different things that affect humans,” he said.
He has hopes to travel the world as much as possible, too.
“I know that’s the stereotypical (answer). I do want to see all of the different places in the world because I feel like growing up in Idaho Falls, as great as Idaho Falls is, there’s a lot of cultural experiences and different views that are present in the world that I’ve missed out on,” Keaton said.