Doubling Down for College

Ask Wewahitchka High School senior Santana Majors a straight question and a straight answer comes back directly.

So, why, she was asked, is she taking a dual enrollment Western Civilization class on top of her already busy schedule that includes two jobs, athletics, her typical high school classes and, well, time for sleep?

“So I can finish college faster,” Majors responded without hesitation. “It is school, sure, but it is pretty cool. It’s more on your own. And I like learning about history.”

Majors is part of one of more astounding success stories in the Gulf County public schools.

Dual enrollment at Wewahitchka High School is up more than 300 percent from last year.

That is a jump both well-timed and to be somewhat expected given that connectivity to the school to make such classes possible – no easy access there to the Gulf/Franklin Center, as in Port St. Joe – has occurred only in the last two school years.

But 300 percent?

“It is like Christmas for these kids,” said Sara Joe Wooten, the deputy superintendent for instruction for Gulf County Schools. “They are thrilled.”

The timing aspect is spot on for the district.

Starting this school year and moving forward, the state formula for grading schools will change. Fifty-percent of that grade will be determined by, primarily, the scores of freshmen and sophomores on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.

The other 50 percent will be based on access and performance in such things as accelerated programs and dual enrollment.

And research has shown, as Wooten noted, a “high success” rate in college for students who have already taken college courses through dual enrollment.

“It gets you prepared,” said Laura Manor, another Wewahitchka High School senior. Manor is taking environmental science this semester. “It gives you an idea of what college is about.”

This is not to assert that Majors, Manor or Ryan Walding, another Wewahitchka High senior, didn’t already have a taste of college, they chorused.

Jay Bidwell, who teaches English and Spanish at the high school, gave them all a sampling of college rigor.

“(Our dual enrollment courses) are not as difficult because he really prepared us for college,” Majors said. “He was really hard on us.”

There is also the added bonus in that the students are taking these college courses at no cost. There is no tuition, no fees for books. The district picks up the tab for the books, which last spring ran about $10,000.

 The dual enrollment classes came about because of two WIRED grants that the district received from Florida’s Great Northwest, a regional economic development organization.

Those grants enabled the district to establish distance learning college courses, starting with Environmental Science, through a partnership with Gulf Coast Community College.

The district can now offer entry-level English, Western Civilization, IT and, this spring, math courses through a combination of distance learning and strictly online classes.

On the distance learning side, the courses, through GCCC, are held three days a week. There is a high school classroom teacher present for each session.

“There’s a safety net, the teacher in the classroom who knows what is expected,” Wooten said.

Students must maintain a certain GPA and must also pass the College Placement Test, or CPT, to participate in dual enrollment.

“We’re overachievers,” Majors said, with Manor finishing the sentence, “We take a lot of classes, take difficult classes and try to excel.”

Tossing college coursework into an already busy teenager’s day, however, comes with challenges.

“You don’t balance, it is pushing for sure,” Majors said.

 Walding said it was all a question of trying to maintain a proper balance. Maybe that will mean completing college assignments on the weekend, eating up other spare time due to overlapping deadlines between high school and college assignments.

“It’s really just another class,” Walding said. “It can be stressful; sometimes you have assignments due the same time. You just have to adjust and do what you need to do.”

The payoff can be significant.

Each student interviewed had a clear notion of where education would take them – Majors will pursue something in the medical field, Manor in biology and Walding in physical therapy – and how it had broadened horizons.

That, at the district level, is sweet music to an educator’s ears.

“Dual enrollment is so much better for the kids,” Wooten said. “We are sending them off so much better prepared. And that is important in these economic times.

“(Dual enrollment at Wewahitchka High) certainly makes education in Gulf County so more equitable.”