College Connection: High School/College Joint Enrollment In the News

Seniors look back on year

By Eric Dorman, Features editor.

Thursday, May 10, 2007—Reprinted from Monitor.

How does it feel to spend your senior year at college? According to a group of 22 students from Newark Memorial High School who spent their year at Ohlone, even better than spending it at high school.

“This experience was a wonderful and challenging step to my future,” said student Melinda Saephan. “I enjoyed it very much.”

A group of high school seniors from Newark Memorial work in their Ohlone classroom. The students take both high school and college classes at Ohlone. Below left, Katrina Kane works at her desk. —Photo by Eric Dorman.

As a result of the overwhelming positive response to the program—or 18 students who responded to a survey, every one said they were glad they had taken part—the college plans to expand this program, called “College Connections,” in the Fall, said Vice President of Instruction Jim Wright. In addition to a group of high school students, called a “cohort,” from Newark Memorial, there will also be a cohort from Kennedy High in Fremont.

In addition to Kennedy next fall, James Logan High in Fremont has also expressed interest in sending a cohort to the college in the 2008-’09 school year.

The current group of seniors began taking classes at the college in fall of last year. Signing up for the program was not mandatory; interested students signed up of their own volition. For the past seven months, the students have taken high school classes on campus from 8:30 a.m. to noon every day, taught by Newark Memorial teacher Jackie Lucero in Building 14. In the afternoon, they are free to take whatever college classes they want, be it English or History of Rock and Roll. They gain college credit for any classes they take.

Still, Lucero’s mornings are not all spent in study. For example, every Friday morning she takes her students to the weekly Brown Bag Science seminar, a trip that started out as an extra credit assignment and has turned into a “must see” for the students. Lucero has also encouraged her students to participate in other campus events, such as World Forums and Earth Week.

Lucero, who has taught for eight years, said that she has noticed a huge difference between the seniors she is teaching this year over the seniors she has taught at high school. “These seniors, overall, are more self-directed learners,” said Lucero, who chose teaching after 20 years as an attorney. “They have better time-management skills, and they’re more serious about their education.”

Students’ opinions of the class seemed to reflect this. “I would definitely recommend this program to other seniors who really are “way serious about their education,” said student Jessica Leon. “Being in a college environment really gives more of an inspiration to continue to pursue our goals.”

“I enjoyed my senior year at Ohlone because it gave me a taste of what college is like and made me feel more confident,” added Marcela Gomez. “I feel like it’s opened a lot of doors to a better future.”

Students also listed avoiding the drama of being a high school senior as a plus in the “College Connections” program. “I got to get away from the high school drama and more into an environment of people who actually take school seriously,” said Leon. “It was a lot more relaxing staying out of all the drama going on at NMHS,” added Francia Balderas.

But drama or no drama, is passing up one’s only chance to be a high school senior worth it? According to student Laura Muir, the answer is “yes.” “Newark Memorial was fun while it lasted,” said Muir, “but I felt like I needed to move on and go on to more important things.”

Lucero noted that while teaching the class was rewarding, it was still “way the heck more work than I ever could have imagined.” Still, she thinks it has been worth it. “I’ve loved it; I’ve been very impressed by morale…I’ve just enjoyed the overall atmosphere,” said Lucero, who plans to continue teaching the program next year.

Wright said that because of the program’s success, all that’s keeping it from expanding rapidly is lack of space. Currently, the college simply doesn’t have enough room to house several other high school cohorts, a fact that could be rectified with the construction of the new Student Services Building, scheduled to be completed in Spring of 2009. Since many faculty offices and services would move from Building 1 to the Student Services Building, this will clear up space for programs like this to grow.

“The program has the capacity to grow quite a bit,” said Wright, “it’s all a matter of space.”

Of the 22 students in Lucero’s class (over the year, three dropped because of the workload) at least 10 have been accepted to four-year universities, including U.C. Davis, U.C. Santa Cruz and SJSU. The other half have decided to spend more time at Ohlone before transferring.

Despite the program’s success, however, Lucero said that she will still face an uphill battle getting more students to sign up next year. It’s always difficult, she said, to persuade students to skip their senior year for something they’ve never tried before.

“Having kids decide they don’t want to be a senior in high school isn’t easy,” said Lucero.

Still, Lucero’s students are helping out by going back to high school on their own time to push for the program. Why?

“I would recommend this program because it has helped me get a sense of what college life will be,” said Mayra Llamas. Miriam Saavedra added, “If you want to get away from all that immaturity that high school tends to have, then by all means enroll next year!”