SOME HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS PURSUE COLLEGE CREDIT; DUAL ENROLLMENT HELPS TO ENHANCE COURSE CHOICES

Notre Dame High School senior Nicole Friedrich is exploring career choices and earning college credit at the same time.

Like a handful of other high school students, Friedrich turned to Southeast Missouri State University to enhance her course choices.

The dual enrollment program offers students a chance to earn college credit while in high school and get a taste of campus life.

In Cape Girardeau, students attend classes on campus and earn college credit; however, those college courses are not counted toward high school graduation requirements. And they get a tuition price break.

At a number of other high schools in the region, including Perryville, Sikeston, New Madrid and Caruthersville, courses are offered on the high school campus and carry both high school and college credits.

Sheila Caskey, dean of graduate studies and extended learning at Southeast, explained that the dual enrollment program is part of the Excellence in Education Act.

Caskey said she believes having high school students attend college classes on the university campus is the best option. "That way they genuinely have a college experience," she said. "But that's not possible for students who live out of town."

At out-of-town high schools, high school teachers are approved as adjunct university instructors, Caskey said. "They are literally teaching our course to those students," she said.

At the end of the course, students are required to complete an exam from Southeast.

"There are some incredibly bright kids out there," Caskey said. "This is one way for high school students to excel and get some college credit."

Friedrich is enrolled in introduction to social work. She plans to become a physical therapist, but social work also interests her.

"I already have all the hours here for the college prep certificate," Friedrich said. "I decided I could earn some college credit." At the same time she can make some decisions on her career.

Notre Dame High School student Daniel Newton loves history. But, entering his senior year, Newton had taken every history course offered at his school.

Newton is enrolled in American civilization at Southeast.

"This is helping me a lot to see what college is like," he said. "It's a lot more similar to high school than I thought."

He said his college professor expects students to take notes from the lectures rather than writing important points on the blackboard.

Notre Dame senior Adam Cox is no stranger to the college campus. This semester he is enrolled in a college algebra course at Southeast. He also attended the summer term at Harvard where he took two courses: Shakespeare, and Celtic folklore and myths.

"It's a way to get ahead and experience a little bit of what college will be like," Cox said. "I don't want to go into it blind."

Jerry Witvoet, guidance counselor at Cape Girardeau Central High School, said about six students take advantage of the program each semester.

"If a student has a particular interest in an area, and the high school can only offer basic courses, it is to the student's advantage to go to a university and take advanced coursework in that area," Witvoet said.

"For instance, we have a transfer student in this year who is a 10th-grader. The only math course we have that she hasn't taken is (advanced placement) calculus. We will open that dual enrollment up to her in her junior and senior years. Otherwise, we would have no math courses to offer her."

Sister Mary Ann Fischer, principal at Notre Dame High School, said five students are enrolled in courses at Southeast this first semester.

"At Notre Dame we do this dual enrollment because we feel it's one way to offer to students the education resources in our community," Fischer said. "Learning takes place outside the classroom walls of the high school.

"We have found that taking a college course on the university campus motivates the students to even do better in classes here," Fischer said.

"They are beginning to find out what college life is like," she said. "It also gives the students some college credits, and that gives them a head start in college."