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Kallyn Austin could have graduated at the end of 11th grade.
But the Clearfield High student didn't want to give up drill team, Key Club and other activities. She wasn't ready to leave her friends.
"I knew I wasn't mature enough to go out and be an adult," said Austin, who took Advanced Placement and concurrent enrollment classes to earn college credit this school year. "Senior year just kind of forces you into being responsible."
Not everyone agrees. As high school seniors across the state gear up to graduate, policymakers in Utah and nationwide are re-examining the 12th grade.
Many Utahns scoffed when Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, earlier this year suggested scaling back 12th grade to save cash. But the idea helped start a serious discussion.
"Why compel them at the cost of the taxpayer to stay longer if you can save dollars and have those students ready in a quicker amount of time?" asked Draper Rep. Greg Hughes, co-chairman of a legislative committee that likely will examine the issue in coming months. "I think there's some wisdom to it."
The idea of broad early graduation is gaining traction nationwide as well.
Ten states are already on board to test an early graduation program developed by the National Center on Education and the Economy. Schools in the pilot program will offer a rigorous curriculum and test students in 10th grade. Those who demonstrate they're college-ready then will have the option of attending community colleges or other open-admissions colleges instead of 11th and 12th grades.
Pilot schools in the 10 states will spend next school year planning and could start graduating 10th-graders as early as 2013.
Marc Tucker, president of the center, said the goal is to get more kids ready for post high school education.
"We'll basically say to kids, 'If you're willing to take tough courses and work hard in high school you get a get-out-of-jail-free card,' " Tucker said. "You can get out of high school after your sophomore year and pursue whatever your dream is."
Some Utah students, parents and educators, however, are leery of broad early graduation programs.
The state Office of Education has created a work group to study 12th grade this summer, but state Superintendent Larry Shumway said he's interested in looking for ways to make 12th grade better, not necessarily shorter.
Many students are not now prepared for college when they leave Utah high schools. Twenty percent of freshmen attending Utah public colleges and universities took at least one remedial class in 2007-2008, according to the Utah System of Higher Education.
"We believe that all the research and every other kind of indicator points to the fact young people need more education, not less," Shumway said.
Many parents and students agree.
Highland High parent Saeed Kermani said he doesn't want to see high school shortened; he wants to see it become more rigorous. He said his oldest son wasn't prepared for college. He worries his younger son, who is now a junior in high school, won't be prepared either.
"They've got to keep them and make it harder," Kermani said. "In high school, it's so easy. Then they get to college, and it's so hard they cannot do it."
Like Austin, many students say they needed 12th grade to mature and gain more life experience.
"It's definitely nice to have the option to graduate early, but don't force it," said Highland High senior John Garrett. "There are things you can't do outside of high school, life experiences you can't get back after high school."
Garrett, for example, said senior year gave him a chance to explore academic areas, such as sociology, that he hadn't thought about before.
"I learned a lot education-wise, and learned a lot about myself," he said.
Also, the state already offers incentives for Utah students to graduate early. Utah students now can get up to $1,000 in Centennial Scholarships for graduating early.
Still, advocates of broad early graduation point to the U.S.'s academic standings internationally as reason to try something new. Some of the countries that outperform U.S. students on international assessments have systems that prepare students for college or work earlier, Tucker said.
He doesn't necessarily buy the argument that students simply are not mature enough to graduate from high school early.
"To me, it's a curious thing to say our kids aren't mature enough to participate in a system like this when all the countries in the industrialized world have a system like this," Tucker said. "Why would it be our kids would be less mature than the kids in all those other countries?"
Tucker hopes the center's pilot program, which will be optional for students, will better prepare them for college and careers. He hopes to eventually see it spread and said a number of states, in addition to the pilot states, already are asking about it.
Utah, however, is not one of them, he said.
Officials in the state will be busy brainstorming their own plans for 12th grade this summer.