WCPSS Has First Class Graduating from Small, Hybrid School
May 27, 2010 - The Class of 2010 will be the first class of graduates from the Wake Early College of Health and Sciences, the Wake County Public School System’s first early college high school. Wake Early College Principal Teresa Pierrie talks with Julie Gassmann, graduating from the Early College with 2-year college degree and high school diploma and bound for UNC-Chapel Hill. |
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There are 54 students in the Class of 2010 including 19 who have earned 2-year college degrees in addition to completing their high school requirements. The students have earned more than $600,000 in scholarships. All of the students completing in May will pursue post secondary opportunities.
The Wake Early College is a part of the NC New Schools Project. The school was developed in a partnership between Wake Tech, WakeMed Hospital and the Wake County Public School system.
Wake Early College Principal Teresa Pierrie says the school sets a different frame in the mind of a student around what the expectations are.
“As freshmen, they began accruing not just a high school transcript, but a community college transcript,” said Pierrie. “They understood that this transcript would follow with them wherever they went beyond Wake Early College.”
The Wake Early College is one of 70 in North Carolina which accounts for a third of the 210 early colleges nationwide. The early college high schools open college access to students who might otherwise stop short of college or even high school graduation. The schools enable students to earn a high school diploma and an associate's degree or two years of transferable college credit - tuition free - within four or five years.
Wake Tech President Stephen Scott says the partnership has helped students.
“We have very high quality and rigorous medical programs and I think the students have really gained a lot from this program as they matured and learned that they can do a lot of things that they didn’t know they could do,” said Dr. Scott. “One of the big things is that they did college level work while they were still in high school. And that in itself is huge.”
Wake Early College graduate Paris Fears is headed to Queens University in Charlotte.
“The most important thing which is always outlined by the Wake Early College is the college experience that you get, like being able to take college classes and still have support systems from high school teachers and the college students and still have all your friends and family with you,” said Fears. “If I were at a university, I wouldn’t have my family there to support me. I don’t think teachers would be as supportive as they are at Wake Early College. So that’s a really big experience for me.”
Students attending the Wake Early College attend classes in their first years at Wake Tech’s campus adjacent to WakeMed Hospital and in their final years at Wake Tech’s North Raleigh campus.
Early college high schools blend high school and college to challenge and support students and to ensure that they succeed in tackling college-level work. Also, the schools lift what can be a significant financial barrier for many students and their families at a time when the average cost of one year of public college nationally exceeds $6,000. The combined tuition savings last year for the nearly 7,000 students in early college high schools on North Carolina's community college campuses reached an estimated $3.6 million.
WakeMed President and CEO Bill Atkinson says the Wake Early College is a great community investment.
“It’s a great economic investment on behalf of the community and for all the young folks who come forward and become involved in this,” said Dr. Atkinson. “I hope some day they will look back and say “I really got a hand up.’ These kids get a phenomenal hand up economically. At the same time, they work with medical professionals who serve as mentors providing them important lessons for life.”
Paris Fears did a two month long summer internship at WakeMed with the Radiology Department.
“My mentor from the Radiology Department is still my mentor now,” said Fears. “She’s attending graduation with me because she just loves me. These internships are a good experience and tie into what the Wake Early College instills in us: Through hard work we can achieve our goals and there are people who are willing to help us to get there.”
For more information on Wake Early College, visit http://healthscienceec.wcpss.net/ and for more information on the NC Early College program, visit www.newschoolsproject.org.
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