College level classes in high school: Getting a jump on college credit

By KATIE LEFEBVRE, Globe staff reporter
October 7, 2004

Catholic high schools throughout the Diocese of Sioux City offer students the opportunity to get a jump on their college education by taking classes for college credit in high school.

As well as offering students the opportunity to take classes for college credit, many of the schools also offer advanced placement classes in subjects such as science and literature. These classes allow students to take a test at the end of the course and receive college credit depending on the score of their test and the requirements of the college they plan to attend.

At Bishop Garrigan High School in Algona, college credit classes are offered through Iowa Lakes Community College and Briar Cliff University. Both colleges have branches in Algona. There are also teachers at Garrigan who teach courses such as psychology and applied math so that students can receive high school and college credit for the classes.

The classes are mainly available to seniors due to the fact that they have completed more of the required classes than other students, explained Lynn Miller, guidance counselor at Garrigan.

"We treat it as a transition from high school, where we tend to try to watch over them and have more control, to college, where it is up to them to take care of all their business," said Miller. "It is a good transition for them to get used to being a little more on their own."

In Carroll at Kuemper Catholic, the students are able to take dual enrollment classes, honors classes and advanced placement classes. The dual credit courses offered include psychology, agriculture, auto I and auto II and fundamentals of speech.

Currently just seniors are taking the dual credit classes. The students receive college credit through Des Moines Area Community College.

"With the rising cost of college education, if students can take some of the general education classes through a community college, the cost is less," said Jeanne Spieler, counselor at Kuemper. "By taking some of the general classes, the student might be ensuring that he could get through college in four years instead of being a fifth year college student."

At St. Edmond's High School in Fort Dodge, they offer calculus I and calculus II, stats I and stats II, accounting essentials and cisco fundamentals of Web page design to the students in their building. The Web page design and accounting classes are offered to any student and the higher level math classes are mainly taken by juniors and seniors.

"Kids need to be challenged," said Paula Florey, guidance counselor at St. Edmond's. "Some of them have excelled and completed all of the course work that we offer here. When they take the college credit, they are being challenged in the classroom."

The classes are available through Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge. Some of the students go out to Iowa Central and take the classes or they take the classes over the internet.

In Granville at Spalding High School, there are four college courses taught in the Spalding building including American literature and computer science. Students are also allowed to leave the building to take general psychology, abnormal psychology and college calculus.

The classes are offered to seniors through Northwest Iowa Community College in Sheldon. At Spalding, there are some students that will graduate from high school with 18 college credit hours. About 15 of the 22 seniors are currently taking advantage of at least one of the college courses this semester.

"It is helping them learn more about college study habits to better prepare them for college," said Tom Ulses, principal at Spalding.

According to Richard Seivert, the seventh through 12th grade counselor at Gehlen High School in Le Mars, each class that a high school student takes during high school should in some way be preparing them for college.

"Every class our freshmen through seniors take is aimed at college," said Seivert. "If they are not prepared through high school, they are not going to be able to go onto college and have any kind of success."

At St. Mary's High School in Remsen, the college credit classes are taken through Western Iowa Tech Community College in Sioux City. If the public school system does not offer the college classes, St. Mary's goes directly through WIT.

The classes are offered to mostly seniors but if there is a class that a junior is able to take, it is open for them to take, explained Ken Hajek, principal at St. Mary's. Classes that are offered include Spanish, automotive, psychology, sociology and economics.

At Heelan High School in Sioux City, calculus classes are offered for college credit as well as classes at Central Campus in Sioux City. The calculus is available to students who have already completed the other math courses Heelan has to offer. The classes at Central Campus include auto body, mechanical drawing and auto mechanics and are available mainly to juniors and seniors as their schedules allow.

There are currently about 35 students taking courses at Central Campus and about 25 taking calculus. They receive college credit through Western Iowa Tech.

Ken Heying, guidance counselor at Heelan, commented that offering the college classes is to meet the needs of the students.

In Storm Lake, a town with two higher education institutions, Iowa Central Community College and Buena Vista University, the schedules at St. Mary's High School are flexible so that students can travel to either college to take classes.

St. Mary's also has teachers on staff that teach Iowa Central classes at the school so the students receive credit at St. Mary's and at Iowa Central, noted Rose Davis, principal at St. Mary's.

The classes range from buildings and trades to general education courses such as psychology and sociology to higher level courses such as calculus. Currently the classes are offered to juniors and seniors or to students that have tested out of certain areas.