High School Students Experience College Life

Roderick Hayes

Staff Wrter

Have you ever wondered about those kids wandering the campus who just look too young to be college students? Odds are they are members of the College Connection program.

Launched in the 1992-1993 school year, College Connection is a special opportunity Shasta College offers to high school seniors that allows them to spend their last year of high school as a Shasta College Knight.

Though this is an amazing opportunity for students to complete nearly two years in one, it also requires students to be dedicated and flexible. They still have to take two high school courses and a mandatory hour of study hall every day.

They are also limited to the number of units they are allowed to take as high school students. They are not allowed to take more than eleven units a semester, as that would make them full-time college students, which is illegal.

The high school classes are divided into the two categories that high school seniors must take. The seniors need a year of English and a semester each of Government and Economics.

The College Connection program currently has four teachers: Jody Solinski, Mike Moynahan, Alan Spivey, and Leanne Westphal. All students end up having three of the four for a class at some point during the year.

Students have a homeroom teacher whose class starts at 8:00 a.m., which is either his or her English or Government/Economics teacher. They keep this teacher all year.

Later in the morning, at either 10 or 11 a.m., they have their second class. For this class, they switch teachers at the semester break. This ensures that all students get to experience three of the four teachers’ teaching styles.

They also have another hour in their morning devoted to a “Study Lab,” which is an hour they must spend in the library or one of the resource centers.

Students are discouraged from taking night classes or online courses, as the goal is to introduce them to standard college life. The counselors are flexible with their students though, and there are exceptions.

The teenagers come to this program for various reasons, ranging from getting ahead in school to escaping the drama of high school life. Whatever reason brings them here, says College Connection student Jared Cahill, the students all “seem to have a certain dedication [I] didn’t see at the high school.”

“[I love] being here,” says College Connection student Cori Simpson, “because there’s no drama. Everyone has their own agenda and [they] don’t rely as much on everyone else.” Stephanie Strazzarino calls it “a difficult but rewarding challenge.”

Current High School Juniors looking at applying for the program this coming year should talk to their high school counselors as soon as possible, so they can be put on the mailing list for any and all information sent on the program.

Alan Spivey had this to say about the program: “College Connection represents a great opportunity for both and students and faculty… [it] represents what drew me to teaching in the first place.”