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A head start for college life
By Rosa Fonseca
Whalesong Reporter
Would it have
helped you to complete your Associate of Arts by the
time you finished high school?
Since fall 1999, UAS has offered middle and high school
students the possibility of earning dual high school and college
credits.
UAS College Connection is a program designed for students
who have special interest in certain subjects and want to go beyond
what is offered in high school.
Robert Sewell, UAS academic advisor, coordinates the
program and explains that, for instance, a student who is interested
in photography can make good use of the UAS infrastructure.
Sewell himself earned college credits as a high school
student. He said, “The experience of taking college classes
was stamped on me.”
The benefits of College Connection are numerous. It
provides a variety of course options for able students and allows
individual routes for acceleration.
“For the education system to succeed, there has
to be flexibility and options for individualization” because,
as Sewell puts it, “one size does not fit all.”
According to Donna Douglass, College Connection assistant,
295 high school students from Juneau, Galena, Nenana and Alyeska
School Districts have taken 468 classes in a variety of different
subjects. Overall, 90percent of credits have been earned with 75percent
of for-grade courses having yielded an “A” or “B”,
with virtually no flunks.
Over 21 states now have dual enrollment, and UAS has
also expanded as 19 students started the program on the Ketchikan
campus.
“College Connections program is a good example
of K through 16 education working in cooperation with UAS to educate
our Alaskan communities youth, “ said Paul Kraft, dean of students,
“it increases the likelihood that these students will be successful
in university. Once they become full time college students, they
will have already experienced what it feels like to be in a college
classroom.”At an age when students usually live with their
parents they can count on emotional support from home in order to
face the challenges of transition. He believes that there is no
reason to confine students to high school when they are ready for
their encounter with existence.
“There is a lot of evidence that this is no weird
science,” said Robert Sewell, who is a constant witness of
students’and parents’ uniform enthusiasm about College
Connection.
Any young student who is seeking a challenge can get
information about the program by visiting our website or contacting
college.connection@uas.alaska.edu to receive a colorful and informative
e-mail newsletter every month. Students who are living this experience
generally have a lot to say about the program.
Some examples are positive comments such as Alex Marvel’s.
He is an 18 year-old JDHS student who said, “ College Connection
not only gives you a head start into the field that you want to
pursue, but it prepares you mentally for what college is going to
give you.”
Email Rosa Fonseca at jsrmf4@uas.alaska.edu
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