With its football games, pep rallies and homecomings, high school is a rite of passage -- a piece of Americana as deeply rooted as baseball and apple pie.
But to Shauna Edson and Miranda Monroe, that was something they wanted no part of.
The two Livermore teens opted out of high school, exchanging four years of cliques and social drama for full-time slots at Las Positas Community College.
"The peer pressure and the social games they play (in high school) just seem stupid to me," said Shauna, a self-described "preschool dropout" who, at 17, has been home-schooled since kindergarten and was recently admitted to Brown University. "It's such a waste of time."
Miranda and Shauna are two "rebellious minds" among a rare breed of teens who have realized high school, with all its glory and imperfections, isn't mandatory. They've discovered they have choices.
"I do not have a high opinion of high school," said Adam Schuck, an 18-year-old home-school graduate who's been taking classes at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill since he was 12.
"I think there are a lot of other opportunities out there for anyone who's looking to get a better education."
Shauna's mom, Carol Edson, calls it "delight-led learning," which means her daughter explores only the subjects and topics she's interested in.
"It's a happy way to learn, and it's what most adults do if they have the choice," said Edson, who is also a local "ambassador" for the Homeschool Association of California.
"I encourage a lot of people, especially when you have a bright child who's basically tapped out what the public high schools have to offer. If you want to learn, Las Positas opens their arms to you and says, 'Come on down.'"
Neither college tracks how many high school-age students it has who are taking a full load of classes. An estimate shows Diablo Valley with about 30 and Las Positas with about a dozen.
Those relatively low numbers may reflect an overall satisfaction with public schools or may be a result of the lack of information about community college as a full-time option.
"It's not as well-known as it could be," said Pauline Trummel, a home-schooling mom for 15 years and coordinator of the Las Positas Tutorial Center. "But I think more and more people are recognizing" community college as an option.
But enrolling as a full-time college student while in high school isn't easy.
To get around public school rules that allow students to enroll in just one community college class, parents form their own home schools in compliance with state regulations. As principal of their own school, they can then allow their student to enroll at the community college.
But high school students are given a lower priority than college students, so they have to fight to get seats in the more popular classes.
Plus, there are the adult-oriented sidelights of the college experience -- like the spot Shauna dubbed "cigarette alley" at Las Positas and classroom conversations -- that parents may not be comfortable with.
But the high schoolers do their best to fit in with the college crowd.
"Most of us blend in," said Shauna. "We don't like to advertise, 'I'm young and I'm smart.'"
And, college officials say, students like Shauna, Miranda and Adam bring something to the community college campus that traditional students may not.
"These kids really want to be here," Las Positas' Trummel said. "They come with this genuine desire to learn, they know how to work independently, and I think they help the other students."
Kara Shire covers education. Reach her at 925