College Connection gives high schoolers a head start

By her senior year, Christa Fagnant had sailed through all the math classes Juneau-Douglas High School had to offer. Rather than wait until college to take more math, Fagnant enrolled in a calculus class at the University of Alaska Southeast, and the Juneau School District paid her tuition.

• Photos

"I finished all the high school offered," said Fagnant, who recently completed the class. The college class "was a lot of fun. We had four people in our class and that was really nice. I got a lot of personal attention."

Fagnant is one of 69 students in Southeast taking a class through the university's dual enrollment program, the College Connection. Students can take courses from welding to physics, receiving high school and college credit. High school students and highly qualified middle school students are eligible. Students who take the college classes often can graduate from high school early.

"Some children are in need of radical acceleration that is not necessarily offered in the public school system and probably shouldn't be," said College Connection Coordinator Robert Sewell. "There are kids that have a marked ability in something. I think there are a couple hundred of kids in the district with (that kind of ability) who would benefit from enriched instruction."

The program provides a needed alternative for students who have exhausted the school district's resources in a certain subject, especially since funding has declined for the gifted and talented program, Sewell said.

Since the College Connection began in 1999, 364 registrants have taken a total of 580 classes and 1,734 attempted credits, Sewell said. With the College Connection, the state can maximize its resources, using the well-established university system to benefit high school students, Sewell said. He pointed out that College Connection students also may excel outside of traditional academic disciplines, taking advanced vocational courses.

Sterling Snyder, 15, goes to school at home and has a penchant for all things mechanical. Though he is not old enough to drive, he completed a class in auto mechanics recently. He also has taken welding and aviation technology.

"Now I am prepared to fix my own car." Snyder said. "If I get stuck on a road somewhere I can do something. I won't just be someone who is just helpless there talking on the cell phone to a mechanic."

Web links

For more on College Connection, check out www.uas.alaska.edu/

collegeconnection/

His father, George Snyder, appreciates how the college classes augment what he teaches his sons at home.

"I'm not for a lot of things they do in high schools," George Snyder said. "We watch (our sons) and each one has different learning capabilities and we try to guide them. (The College Connection) lets them get courses we are not able to teach and prepares them for the world out there."

The program does have some limitations. Though Snyder and Fagnant had their tuition covered, many students or parents must pay for university classes. The Juneau School District limits the tuition payments, favoring students such as Fagnant who have exhausted all of the district's classes in a subject. Snyder goes to school by distance through the Galena School District, which is more flexible about awarding tuition.

Scheduling can also be a problem for students who attend both UAS and JDHS because college classes can be held during the high school's hours.

"I could only take four classes at the high school and one of the days I had to leave band early and arrive late to government class," Fagnant said. "I can't take differential equations next year because it is from nine to 10 in the morning, it's kind of a bummer."