Augusta University and the Columbia County School District have entered an agreement to streamline the path for students toward higher education.
Leaders from both the district and the university, along with teachers, professors and students convened at the Jaguar Activities Center of the school’s Summerville campus as AU president Brooks Keel and Columbia County school superintendent Steven Flynt signed off on a new dual enrollment agreement.
“This is probably the first time we’ve seen this much enthusiasm around this much collaboration between a school district,” said Keel, noting that he hopes the program can serve as an example for institutions throughout the state.
The district and AU have had a dual enrollment program in place for some seven years that allowed students to earn college credits before graduating high school. This new partnership expands that opportunity by offering college courses, taught abut AU professors, on the campuses of all five of Columbia County’s high schools.
Starting in the fall, AU will offer at least one college course at each school, including core curriculum classes available every semester. The course credits will be transferable to AU, or any other institution a student chooses to attend.
“This fits in with our high school experience,” said Flynt, underscoring that this shared effort is an enrichment of what is already available, rather than a new, separate program. “It’s a program that allows college credits while they’re in high school, at their local high school. And so the bridge between AP courses, or even other dual enrollment courses, is really a factor in the success that students can look forward to in our high schools.”
The enhancement of the dual enrollment also entails information sessions to aid students through the admissions process, and an early alert program to notify school counselors when a student may need extra coaching.
The initiative will make available courses in a wide variety of subjects, such as college level English, economics, Spanish and geography.
Both Flynt and Keel gave nods to the dual enrollment program’s potential impact on workforce development. Keel mentioned that students could take courses aligning with career pathways, particularly the Columbia County district’s Teach as a Profession Pathway program.
Flynt noted that the district is already interested in incorporating its career, technical and agricultural education (CTAE) program into the new initiative’s efforts.
“The level of courses for CTAE, for workforce development, is going to continue to expand and especially at our high schools that don’t have those current forces,” Flynt said, adding that the district and the university have already been in talks about the possibility of developing more classes in those areas as the dual enrollment program increases its curriculum.
Gabriella Mendez-Mathis, a rising senior at Grovetown High School, will be among the first students to take advantage of dual enrollment partnership, taking AP government in the coming school year.
“Transportation is kind of hard, because I got my license late,” said Mendez-Mathis, who plans to study pediatric physical therapy after graduation. She’s looking forward to having an chance to jumpstart college on her high school campus, living so far from AU. “It’s just nice knowing that I have my opportunities extended to me where I’m able to actually get the education expansion that I need.”
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
