When Grace Miller entered her sophomore year at Avon High School, she knew exactly what to do: enroll at Lorain County Community College through its College Credit Plus offering. She had watched her two older sisters to just that, propelling their college educations forward, saving time and tuition costs, and transferring to four-year schools with several college credits already completed.

“Seeing my two sisters and how well they did at LCCC and how much it helped in their education and meeting their goals, I was really encouraged to start taking classes,” she said.

Miller started that year with several math and English courses. She had such an encouraging experience that she enrolled at LCCC full time for her junior and senior years.

“I was compelled to switch my entire course-load to CCP because the culture and teacher engagement I experienced at LCCC made it easy and enjoyable to learn,” she said. “It also gave me so many opportunities that I otherwise wouldn't have had access to.”

One of those opportunities has been helping other students with the subject she’s decided to concentrate her education and potential career on – math. At just 17 Miller is a supplemental LCCC instructor for a pre-calculus and calculus course and she serves as a tutor in the math lab.

“In both of these roles I help struggling students to break down and better understand the material,” Miller said. “I work with classes ranging from college algebra to higher level calculus courses.”

Now Miller is graduating with an associate of science degree with a focus on mathematics from LCCC, along with her high school diploma from Avon High School. In fall Miller will attend Cleveland State University and has accepted a scholarship into the university’s Honors Program. She has her eyes on the 4+1 master’s degree program in mathematics and after that she hopes to earn her doctoral degree. And someday she’d like to be a math professor.

As the last of her sisters to attend LCCC, Miller is grateful for the example set by her sisters and the encouragement she received from her parents, especially her mother, who is a graduate of LCCC’s University Partnership program with Ashland University. Her mom has always said that LCCC is the perfect place to begin an educational foundation and explore career passions. She was right.

“I was able to determine what it was that I wanted to do with my life,” Miller said. “I realized how much I enjoyed working with students and helping them learn. This encouraged me to look into academia as a career.”