0
0
NS has offered CE classes as a way to get done with college quicker and cheaper, while learning a pathway that students might be interested in.
Concurrent enrollment (CE) is a program that allows high school students to take courses offered by colleges to earn high school and college credit at the same time.
“It gives you a chance to see what college is going to be like without getting your feet wet,” Snow College concurrent enrollment advisor Bree Daniels said. “Instead of waiting till post high school, taking the full credits and being overwhelmed, it kind of gives you a semester to take one class or two or just a few here and there to get the idea of it.”
NS has had many students take CE classes.
“I started taking these classes my junior year,” senior Eva Huntigntion said.“My older siblings had done them and it was something that I wanted to do, so I took a college course online.”
While the numbers have been strong for NS, they have been less than some neighboring schools, including Manti. This is in part due to the increased offerings of fact to face CE. But it has not gone unnoticed by parents.
In a board meeting in March, a mom talked about the need to improve CE classes.
NS provides counselors and advisors to help students get started with CE and find classes that best suit what they are interested in. Counselor Andy Peterson believes it is best for students to take their first CE course sophomore or junior year.
“Some students who are really driven and have a plan set out like, ‘I am going to graduate with my associate’s degree’ if they don’t start with their sophomore year they probably aren’t going to reach that goal,” Peterson said.
Although NS has many classes that students can take, there are some changes that can be made to make it a better academic learning experience and help more students take advantage of the opportunity CE provides.
“One of things that we could do and should do and will do is use the Freshmen academy class to highlight some of those classes,” Peterson said. “This year we started to bring in some of our students that have taken more classes to talk about their experience, but they aren’t specific to the individual classes.”
There is always some progress and changes that can be made to these classes to better fit students’ learning and career pathways that they would like to go into, and NS is working to improve the visibility of the CE program.
“One thing that I am currently pushing forward is I want Snow College to partner with local high schools, including ours, to create a series of advertisements to better showcase what the class is about and why students should take it and which students should take it,” Peterson said. “I am really trying to find some people to take on a marketing campaign with one minute video ads.”
Currently for the fall semester, NS students are currently registered for 229 IVC CE courses, more than Manti.
The subjects that you are interested in know and the classes that are teaching them having something that you can learn more about well still being interested
“The classes are definitely hard, but they bring such a different light than I have learned in high school classes because it’s just interesting as they go more in depth on all the different subjects,” Huntigntion said.
What students do in high school can change their educational experience and allow for more opportunities earlier on.
“It sets kids up for their future,” parent Julie Reece said. “Instead of having to take more classes you can get rid of all the general classes and it can get you years ahead.”
