Abby Porter took dual credit classes at Du Quoin High School. Today, she runs the program.

That kind of full-circle story — a hometown kid who comes back not just to live, but to give — doesn't get told often enough.

"Born and raised in Du Quoin," she says, and means every word. Her family has been here since before she was born. Her husband, a 2012 Du Quoin graduate, runs even deeper — his grandparents are from here, too. Now there's Halle, their two-year-old, who will be wearing Du Quoin black and red before they know it.

"I'm excited to send her here to Du Quoin."

As the coordinator of dual credit and early college programs at John A. Logan College, Abby works with students across eleven school districts, helping them get a head start on college while they're still in high school. Classes taken at the high school level are completely free. Through Logan directly, up to eight credit hours of tuition are waived. Students can pursue everything from English and biology to a new wiring course launching next year. Some come out with CNA certificates and walk straight into careers.

The real value, though, is something harder to put on a transcript.

"We hear of a student who's like, 'I'm really in between a business major and an education major or welding.' So maybe let's take a welding class — or take the education class — see if you like it. And if you decide in high school that's not for you, then you didn't spend an entire semester of time and money on it and then change your major."

She knows that feeling from the inside. Growing up with parents in higher education — her dad at SIU, her mom at Rend Lake College — she had plenty of exposure to college life, but no clear sense of direction. She chose business management at SIU, something broad enough to leave options open. Then, while working toward her master's, she landed a graduate assistantship with the SIU men's basketball team. They paid for her degree. She made real connections. She loved the world of athletics — but it came with long hours and a ceiling: if you wanted to move up, you typically had to move out.

When a position opened at the John A. Logan Extension Center back in Du Quoin, she came home. She was there for exactly four weeks before COVID shut everything down.

"And then COVID hit. So as soon as COVID hit, all the extension centers temporarily closed down, and they moved us all to the main campus."

From there, she found her way into the dual credit office — and stayed.

"I ended up really liking the office, the program, and what I do."

Part of what she loves is thinking past the classroom. Through a regional career fair on Logan's campus, eighth-graders meet local employers and explore careers they might not have considered — all before they've mapped out a single semester of high school. Logan has partnered with SI Now to support regional economic development, and a new Promise scholarship is being launched for the current freshman class: free tuition for students who meet requirements and stay in the district.

"Let them know, hey, you know, these companies, these careers are available to you right here."

Abby herself took dual credit at Du Quoin — grateful, she says, for that jump start. She carries that perspective into every conversation she has with students, because she remembers what it felt like to be on their side of the desk.

"I was the type of kid that stressed about the next thing," she admits. "I felt like my friends really knew what they wanted their career to be, and I didn't, and that stressed me out."

What she'd tell seventh-grade Abby — the one who worried — is the same thing she tells students now.

"You'll figure it out. You'll find your way, you'll find your path."

She did. And now she helps them find theirs.