Those who watched Sedona Red Rock High School’s Graduation Ceremony honoring the Class of 2020 would have seen Chloe Coulter walk across the stage as one of the graduates. That was a deviation from Coulter’s original plan when she started high school.

Coulter’s time at SRRHS began as a freshman in the fall of 2017 and with that, she was slated to graduate with the Class of 2021. But roughly halfway through the 2018-19 school year, Coulter realized her credits had her on track to graduate a year early. Coulter decided to pursue that option and when the 2019-20 school year came to a close, the goal became a reality.

The decision to graduate high school a year early made sense to Coulter on multiple fronts.

“I want to go into the medical field — I want to be a doctor, which is nine years of college,” Coulter said. “I want to jumpstart my career. Also, I’m friends with many of the seniors. I fit in with that class.”

While her time in high school was shorter than most people’s, Coulter made the most of the experience. She said the activities and fundraisers for the clubs she participated in were among her best high school memories. And between the Yearbook Club, Student Council, National Honor Society, Key Club and Interact Club, there were a lot of events.

Coulter was also president of the Key and Interact clubs. Besides her club participation, Coulter played on the Scorpions’ varsity girls soccer team and was a cheerleader for all three years at SRRHS. This year, she served as co-captain of the cheerleading
team.

“Clubs and sports,” she said, “that made up a lot of my high school career.”

In soccer, Coulter noted a December tournament in Phoenix in the most recent season as a top memory. She particularly enjoyed the bus rides, spending the night in Phoenix and getting to bond with her teammates.

In cheerleading, Coulter loved getting to cheer and perform in front of the whole school at pep rallies. She added that having one or two foreign exchange students on the team each year was a way for the team to expand their horizons.

“That’s always really fun,” Coulter said. “It brings a whole level of culture to our team and it’s really fun getting to know them as well.”

With her time in high school now complete, Coulter’s focus will now shift to college. Next year, she’ll attend Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University. After that will be medical school, she hopes someplace in Colorado [where she’s originally from] or the East Coast.

Eventually, Coulter hopes to be a trauma surgeon, something she knows will never get monotonous.

“I knew that I wanted to do something medical and figured that working trauma is being hands on — the best way to work in that environment,” Coulter said. “Doing surgery or working in trauma as a surgeon, I’d be actively saving lives. It brings new excitement every day and is something I could never get bored of doing.”