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Political Science Professor Recognized for 35 Years of Service |
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UMass Boston holds its second Alumni Family Day Homecoming on a beautiful Autumn day. |
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Dual Enrollment Program Gives High School Students UMass Boston Experience, Credits |
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Pilot Program Tailors Regulations for University Laboratories |
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Aisha Banks is not your typical UMass Boston student. While she may act like and perform as well as any other student in her Freshman English II class this semester, Banks does something else each day before coming to class: she attends high school. She is a participant in the Massachusetts Department of Education's Dual Enrollment Program, which provides funding for talented and motivated students to take a class (or classes) at any state community college, four-year college, or university. Since the program's inception in 1984, over 500 students have taken classes at UMass Boston; more than 90 students are registered for classes this fall semester - the most ever, as the program continues to grow. Dual Enrollment is coordinated by the Office of Undergraduate Admissions.
"I thought it would be harder," Banks said of her first class, English 101, taken in fall 1998. "It was much tougher than high school, but not as bad as I thought: it was demystifying." Since then Banks has accumulated 6 credits with a 3.38 GPA at UMass Boston. "I feel comfortable now. At first I felt out of place. It was funny taking a 5:15 P.M. class where many students were the same age as my mother. But I really participated, and everybody was cool by the end of the semester. I was never treated like a high school student." Banks' experience is a common one for Dual Enrollment students. Often, their college classmates are not even aware that they are still attending high school, since classroom expectations are the same for all students.
High school students taking classes at UMass Boston is nothing new. Another program, Flexible Campus, predates Dual Enrollment by nearly 20 years. The Flexible Campus Program allowed students to register for under-enrolled courses for free, and students were able to earn high school and UMass Boston credit. But Flexible Campus had many drawbacks and limitations: students sometimes "disappeared" without withdrawing, or registered for inappropriate courses. It was difficult to screen potential participants, and the system of registration and grade recording was cumbersome and often confusing.
As Dual Enrollment participation increases, the Flexible Campus Program is slowly being phased out. Liliana Mickle, Director of Undergraduate Admissions, calls Flexible Campus "an open forum, a free-for-all, which did not have a definitive way of assessing a student's abilities prior to taking the classes. Flexible Campus was a luxury when UMass Boston enrollment was not as high; it was an outreach program with goals that the Dual Enrollment Program accomplishes much more successfully." Dual Enrollment has a built-in prescreening process: the student must be a high school junior or senior, must have a cumulative 3.0 GPA in high school, and must be approved by the high school guidance staff and the Department of Education. Once the approval is secured, the student must successfully complete the same assessment and orientation process that all new UMass Boston undergraduates complete before registering for classes.
Andrew Skeels, a senior at Arlington High School, began his study at the University in fall 1997 as a Flexible Campus student. He is currently one of a handful of students studying full time at UMass Boston through Dual Enrollment. "Flexible Campus had so much more freedom - maybe too much freedom. Not everybody is ready for that." says Skeels, who now has a 3.97 GPA with 39 credits at UMass Boston. "Dual Enrollment balances out the opportunity. It's much more formalized and provides better access to the University." Skeels glows about his study at UMass Boston. "I was miserable in high school, so I came in with tremendous energy and wanted to learn. Dual Enrollment has been such a wonderful privilege." Skeels has made many connections with students and faculty at UMass Boston, including Theatre Arts faculty member Anne Tolbert, whom Skeels calls the "mentor" in his life.
Dual Enrollment provides students an opportunity to discover UMass Boston. Yudy Muneton took two classes through Dual Enrollment before graduating as salutatorian of her high school in 1998. "I knew little about UMass Boston, and the program helped me learn about the campus: the colleges, the facilities, and where to get help." Muneton is now studying biology and pre-med courses as a University Scholar. "It's much less scary my first semester. I think I'm way ahead of other new students." Like many students, Muneton says that, if not for Dual Enrollment, she might not have considered UMass Boston. "I really feel like I'm a part of the University now."