Program gives students a 'Running Start' on college.With a college education more important than ever, wouldn't it be great if there were a way for high school students to get a jump start on higher education higher education Study beyond the level of secondary education. Institutions of higher education include not only colleges and universities but also professional schools in such fields as law, theology, medicine, business, music, and art. ? The Community College System of New Hampshire New Hampshire, one of the New England states of the NE United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts (S), Vermont, with the Connecticut R. forming the boundary (W), the Canadian province of Quebec (NW), and Maine and a short strip of the Atlantic Ocean (E). has a program enabling students to do just that. Project Running Start is an enrollment partnership between participating high schools and the community colleges that allows high school students to take college courses at a reduced price. By taking the college courses, students enrolled in the program earn credit toward high school graduation while also earning college credit. All seven of the state's community colleges participate in the Running Start program: they are White Mountains White Mountains, part of the Appalachian system, N N.H. and SW Maine, rising to 6,288 ft (1,917 m) at Mt. Washington in the Presidential Range and to 5,249 ft (1,600 m) at Mt. Lafayette in the Franconia Mountains. Crawford Notch separates these two main groups. Community College in Berlin; River Valley Community College in Claremont and Keene; Lakes Region Community College in Laconia; NHTI NHTI New Hampshire Technical Institute (2 year college in NH) in Concord; Manchester Community College Manchester Community College (or MCC) is a community college in Manchester, Hartford County, Connecticut, USA. Founded in 1963, it is the third-oldest of the twelve community colleges governed by the Board of Trustees of the Connecticut Community-Technical Colleges and has ; Nashua Community College; and Great Bay Community College in Stratham and Portsmouth. The courses, which only cost $100, are taught at high schools during the regular school day by high school faculty who meet the community college system's credentialing standards. These high school instructors partner with a college faculty member in delivering the course. In addition to the "running start" on college credits and the reduced tuition, the program allows students who are undecided about post-secondary education to try a college-level course. Students can then transfer the course credit to another community college or a four-year institution. Sarah McGillicuddy, a senior at Gorham High School, has earned a total of 19 college credits through Running Start. All told, tuition cost her $500. Sarah's college-credit, dual-enrollment courses included anatomy and physiology, biology and calculus calculus, branch of mathematics that studies continuously changing quantities. The calculus is characterized by the use of infinite processes, involving passage to a limit—the notion of tending toward, or approaching, an ultimate value. . Because she was able to earn so many credits, she will begin her college career next year as a sophomore, where she'll study biochemistry biochemistry, science concerned chiefly with the chemistry of biological processes; it attempts to utilize the tools and concepts of chemistry, particularly organic and physical chemistry, for elucidation of the living system. . "I definitely liked the experience of what a college classroom might feel like - the teachers tried to make it feel more like college," she said. "It was neat, it was definitely worth it." Manchester Community College's Running Start program operates in 17 area high schools, offering a total of 115 courses, said Elizabeth Stull stull n. 1. A supporting timber or other prop in a mine. 2. A platform braced against the sides of a working area in a mine. , coordinator of the program for the college. Nearly 1,000 students took advantage of these college-credit courses over the last year. "Every one of my courses counted towards my general education requirements at UNH Unh The symbol for the element unnilhexium. ," said Julia LaRoche, a Manchester West High School graduate now in her first year at UNH, where she majors in health management and policy. "I finished my freshman English, quantitative reasoning and my two biology courses before I even began attending college. As a result, I am planning to graduate early. I am managing to save an entire year's tuition because of the courses I took." Since becoming Project Running Start coordinator at White Mountains Community College in Berlin nearly three years ago, Bob Corrigan has seen enrollment in the program grow from about 70 to more than 420 students. Statewide, he said, close to 5,000 New Hampshire students are enrolled in Project Running Start. "I view Project Running Start as a means of economic development for the North Country," Corrigan said. Through the project, "we have begun to nurture NURTURE. The act of taking care of children and educating them: the right to the nurture of children generally belongs to the father till the child shall arrive at the age of fourteen years, and not longer. Till then, he is guardian by nurture. Co. Litt. 38 b. a labor force of our own nurses, our own teachers, our own technicians, while the students are still in high school,". Corrigan said. "Project Running Start runs on the fuel of partnerships between highly qualified local high school teachers, their administrators and school boards, our partnering college faculty members, and supportive parents who want their children to take the measure and challenge of a college course." For students and their families who worry about affording a college education or how they might fare in a collegiate col·le·giate adj. 1. Of, relating to, or held to resemble a college. 2. Of, for, or typical of college students. 3. Of or relating to a collegiate church. atmosphere, Project Running Start gives them a much-needed boost. As Corrigan noted, this is good not only for thousands of students, but for the rest of New Hampshire as well. Richard Gustafson is chancellor of the Community College System of New Hampshire. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion