 Hi there, I'm Jeb Spalding, I'm the Chancellor of the Vermont State Colleges System and I want to welcome you to Higher Education Matters. Monthly we record a new program and have it distributed across the state on various cable access channels. I want to thank Orca and Montpelier for helping us produce this show. It is intended to educate students, parents, grandparents, community members on opportunities and issues in higher education. In particular we focus on issues and opportunities within the Vermont State Colleges System and those would be Community College of Vermont, Castleton University, Northern Vermont University with campuses in Johnson and Linden and that's a transitional process from Johnson State College and Linden State College into an exciting new Northern Vermont University starting on July 1 and Vermont Technical College as well. We also invite guests that are not part of the Vermont State College System to talk about affordability or other higher education matters that people would be interested in. So I thank you for tuning in and today we have a very interesting program about something called Early College and Dual Enrollment. These are very creative, innovative programs in Vermont that allow high school students to earn college credit while they're in high school. Every high school student has an opportunity to take two college courses in their junior or senior year of high school and those are offered at all of our Vermont State Colleges. Community College of Vermont has 12 locations around the state, online capacity and then Johnson, Linden, Vermont Tech, Castleton all offer those programs as well as do many other independent colleges. So it's a great program for students. People are often talking about well it's expensive to go to college, how can we afford this? With Dual Enrollment and Early College you could conceivably at the year you normally graduate from your high school and do graduate from your high school the next year be well into your sophomore year of college. So if you were pursuing an Associate's Degree that would be like getting a 50% break on your college tuition or a four year degree, a 25% break plus. So it's a very innovative program and exciting program and we have two students with us today that participate in these programs and I want to introduce Sophia Blanchard from Windsor who has taken both Dual Enrollment and is now an Early College student at the Upper Valley Community College of Vermont location and we have Josh Ganyame who is a student from Bakersfield, Enosburg High School that went to the Early College program at Johnson and then is now in his second year. I'm curious just to start with since you're into your second year of Early College how did you find out about the program Josh? Well I heard about it from like kids that were talking about it at school they heard about it from other kids that were doing it and I thought it would be a great opportunity to get a jump start on my college education and I felt like I completed my high school education I didn't have only had one credit for my senior year so I didn't really want to waste a year and I wanted to get a jump start so that's why I did it. And how did you find out you know like how to get enrolled in it and you know? I went and first I talked to my guidance counselor and I let her know that I wanted to do it and she informed me what it exactly was and then I got in contact with Johnson State College and talked to Joy Lyon up there and she helped me get started on the whole process. I'm curious was it intimidating to go you know in your senior year of high school into you know a college setting because in your case I assume you're going to college on the Johnson State College campus right and do you commute or do you do you live there? I commute it every day and for the full two semesters that I was in Early College I so again what was it scary and intimidating or did you fit right in? It wasn't scary or intimidating I had a lot of friends I made through the early college program that were from my area like surrounding high schools so I had people to talk to you know and made more and more friends as I was there so it fed in I fit in really nicely and okay so did you graduate from Enosburg High School and get your first year of college credit at the same time? Yes I did. And now you're in your second year? Second year of college and first year. So you're in your sophomore year even though you're just one year out of high school. Right. Pretty amazing. Sophia, how did you find out about you've been through both the dual enrollment and the Early College program so I guess the dual enrollment comes first right? Yeah, my junior year of high school my parents went to a meeting where a CCV member came and talked to them about the dual enrollment program. My mother got in contact with the college and we thought it'd be a good fit for my sister and I. I went to I did dual enrollment my entire junior year and I did a class each semester and then senior year I we learned about the early college program and we were like well we've been introduced slowly into the program and it was just the logical next step. So did you find out about these opportunities on your own or did the counselors say hey this is something you know you and your sister like look like you're likely candidates to participate in dual enrollment? The counselors were at the meeting and afterwards they offered to help parents and talk about the program so I we didn't talk much a lot of it went through my parents and my mother really pushed it and was like this is a brilliant idea I mean it's tuition free and it was just a very good opportunity for us. So you would normally be Sophia I think in our in some ways it's like concurrent right you're still in your senior year of high school and you have already earned previous to your senior year like in your junior year six credits so succeeded in taking two courses college courses that can be used for your college track and when you get to this May and you graduate or June when you graduate from high school you will have completed your first year of college and two additional courses so normally when you would be starting college you would already be well into your sophomore year. That's got to be a pretty good savings and again it's tuition free right to you so you know people are thinking about ways they can make college affordable just pretty good way to do it. Oh yes it's a very good start for people and it gets you into the college system while you're still young especially the dual enrollment program it gets you used to it and it helps you to understand what it's like and acclimate to the college community. So I'm going to come back to ask a few more questions but I should say right now it is a great program if you're interested if you're watching and you're interested you can either go to the Vermont State College's web page VermontState or VSC.edu you can go directly to one of the colleges in this case Johnson where where Josh goes or Community College of Vermont where Sophia goes or any other other colleges can help you when your counselors at your high schools could probably help as well so there are ways if people are interested they can they can get the information pretty easily. Were you intimidated being in classes with college students when you're I don't know what you were 17 years old? My first year actually for dual enrollment I did it online so I was that's a good opportunity to yeah I was still in my high school classes with my high school friends my when I started early college I decided that I wanted to do more in-person classes and I wasn't as interested in the online so I went in and there were quite a few other dual enrollment students from other schools so a lot of them were my age going through the same things as I was and I made fast friends with a lot of people. Okay so in your case are you taking you know a full four or five courses in the fall and then in the spring semester too? Yes I am. Okay and so it's is it during the day or day and night or how does it work? I usually work my classes around my work I or work my work schedule around my classes and I do both morning, middle of the day and night they have them at all time so it's very convenient for me to work around with it so I'm curious with both of you in your experiences now Josh didn't do do enrollment so let's just take early college do you still maintain some connections to your home high school or is it like you're done and you know like you can't play on the sports teams anymore if you wanted to or the drama club or whatever it is so when we start with with Josh and then go while you're still you're technically still in high school why you're doing early college I'm done now obviously but one last year when I was in college commuting going every day full-time you know I could still participate in all the sports could have gone to the prom and all that and if you're not disconnected if you don't want to be you can go go to your high school every day if you want to and participate in activities at the high school it's not I imagine some do with some don't you're right some do some don't I didn't take part so much but I know a lot of people I did and still played all the sports and you're not disconnected if you don't want to miss your senior year so you can get the college credits still get jumpstart on your education but you still get to have your senior high school if you really want to did you go to graduation at the Unisport yes I did a few buddies I wanted to walk with right that's good excellent Sophia how about yourself I didn't really get involved in many of the classes but I did go to my prom I went I go to a lot of the dances and such I plan to go to my graduation in June and if I wanted to a lot of my my theater teacher especially wanted me to continue to take theater there I opted out of that but I could have so I guess the point for the viewers is you go either way but you're not necessarily severing all your connections with your home high school when you do early college I mean is it is it like is it is the workload sufficiently or significantly heavier or different than when when you were a high school student I'll start with you Sophia it's pretty similar it's not as bad it's much easier like I said to work around my work schedule because you have for me at least I take you have a class once a week so I don't have to and it's only a few hours so I also have time to work or study and such and the workload is not too much different from my high school so in your dual enrollment do you remember what courses you took online just a curiosity online I took psychology and I took English calm that's great and what and you enrolled in a particular program now that associates degree track at the Community College of Modern just individual courses or how's that work for you in your early college year at the well this last semester I was taking mostly core classes okay just to get things figured out because I wasn't quite sure where I wanted to be this semester I plan to take a phlebotomy course and I'm kind of leaning towards going into something in the medical field okay great well you'll be well down the road on that and how about you Josh where where where you headed I'm getting a business administration or management degree and the workload was not much of a change for me it was actually I figured a little bit easier because you're around people I wanted to learn in high school I felt like I didn't really want to be there anymore because the kids they kind of mess around you know and it was easier to learn in Johnson and actually get something out of my senior year so I figured the workload wasn't that bad and you could schedule around what you're doing to to get your stuff done so okay it was pretty linear and there were support groups if you had problems and people that would help you you know tutors if you really needed it but and when you're in your early college year which you're not anymore that was last year for you did you mainly associate with other early college students are you associating with the regular student body well it was it's your choice the teachers don't tell it say if you're early college or not so you can just fit right in with everybody and just mingle in the crowd and that's basically what I did I knew a lot of people that were there that were sophomores already and stuff so kind of just fit in and talk to everybody but other early college students you had obviously had another different connection because you had support groups with them and meetings with them so you knew each other a little better right so you know what I've been told by the some of the faculty at both Community College and at Johnson and the other colleges as well as that you know having the early college students actually lends a certain vitality to the classes and they're generally motivated students and it sort of lifts the whole class which is a great thing do and you may not know the answer to this Josh but do most of the students that are in their early college and let's say or do early college at Johnson and again it's available at Castleton and Linden and all over the place within the state college system from on technical college but do they generally stay at Johnson and continue on there or go somewhere else or half and half or I want to know the exact number but I'd say quite a few of them stay or at least stay an actual year just to figure out what they want to do and by leaving a little downside to the early college is by leaving you technically are a freshman in another college if you transfer so if you stay at Johnson another year you're a sophomore in that college and you'll be a junior in the college if you transfer that following year so I think a lot of people do that just for a way around right but yeah a lot of people stay there and I plan on staying there I know somebody else that get got theirs or getting their associates degree this year from having a early college year and then this year's you know we were trying to think of where we'd met before and I don't know if it was here but I went to the Johnson early college sort of graduation dinner or whatever it was last year I don't know if you were there for that but yeah and I it was it was a lot of fun talking to some different students and right I saw students there were a couple that were going up to you main or no you know and there were others that were staying so for students or parents or you know relatives that are watching wondering whether this might be the a good opportunity for students it can go either way many many do stay on the where they are and some decide to go elsewhere and they find that it actually helps their their you know their college application to have been completed college courses and done okay and when they apply to go somewhere else and it says it's nice staying at Johnson because I'm not sure if everybody gets it but I'm pretty sure if you do good in the early college program at Johnson you get a scholarship so you get some more money off your tuition for the following years that you're there's up to when you're done your four-year degree that's also another little perk that I like about Johnson so right and I'm curious in your situation Sophia do you get a chance to interact with other early college students or do you not even notice the difference between who's early college and who is an early college I mean a lot of them were very open about being early college I mean if you really get to talking to someone that's often a good conversation starter I find that we are pretty mixed I mean I do I did meet a lot of them and it was it made it much easier for me to act when made into the system and such knowing that other people were in the same situation as I was but I mean I mean you must be in pretty diverse classes though and by this I mean some definite adult students and some that are your age and everything in between probably right yeah and you enjoy that I love it it gives you a very you get a lot of sides to the college programs well that's good and and are you planning to you may not know the answer to this since you're still in the middle of your early college year but are you planning to stay at community college or go to another state college or go out of state or you still trying to figure that out I really want to do an ultrasound technician program I'm not quite sure where I'll be going yet I'm still kind of figuring it out a little bit I know since it's it's very easy to transfer credits from CCV it's very convenient that I have the ability to go to another college and still have these credits so if there were some students or parents or friends out there and they were wondering whether this was a good opportunity you know what would you tell them about your early college experience Josh it's a great opportunity and I want to want to change it you get so far ahead by taking this year and it really matures you a little earlier and you get a jump start I look at this way by doing a program that Johnson offers a four plus one program I started a year early plus I'm getting a year taking off my master's when I go to Clarkson I'm gonna be getting my master's degree by one people that were in my senior class are getting their bachelors so it really it really pushes you and makes you look into what you're gonna be and I like the way of how it was structured and so you already know you're going on to a master's program but you're only your sophomore year okay nice and what you know where you hoping to end up once you get your master's degree oh I don't know I got sugaring business but I want to mind expanding that or opening a bottling business for syrup so just to you know make the market a little bigger for sugaring because markets going down a little bit due to too much syrup and much syrup being shipped out of the state so I'd like to open my own bottling facility okay well let's start hopefully the the education you're getting will help you with that because everything is more complicated these days yeah and you know it's it's starting to be the sugar and kind of time of season time of year around here and are you gonna be sugaring this this spring oh yeah today this apps running it's 45 degrees today and starting to come in but it's a little early yet so I don't know if we'll be making syrup today but at least systems working so right and this program being recorded it might be below zero and somebody's actually watching this but the day we're recording it is after all that cold weather we had now in a real warm stretch for a little while anyway so but that's great and you're gonna be able to actually maintain your college courses while you're you're sugaring I scheduled last year when I was in early college doing the early college program my spring semester I moved around so I had a couple days or afternoons off when this app was running them also like I said it's really lenient and works around the student and your your advisors at the school help you with that too so very supportive so you know one thing I'm thinking is with dual enrollment early college it really helps from a financial perspective because you're you're actually getting you know years of college courses and years of college done tuition free it speeds up the process so you'll have your college degree sooner which will allow you to be you know working in a field or starting your own business sooner I'm also wondering whether you know how it plays in terms of having you stimulated and busy in your senior year I mean I don't know I don't know if it does make a difference or not so I'm asking the question I mean I have two daughters that went to high school here in Vermont and a lot of their friends in their senior year of high school were kind of like almost done with their courses and we're not really totally engaged and I'm wondering whether you see let's start with you Sophia see it as a way to you know have have somebody really make the most of their senior year where they're not disengaged and just sort of coasting for a year I found myself very motivated to do more because it also got me credits towards college so while I did get the credits towards my high school I currently only have one class left that I only have one credit left that I need for high school and I continued to I wanted to do more so that I could go further into the college aspect of things well that's the point I guess isn't it if you only had one credit left to do in high school you might be kind of like coasting this this spring semester as opposed to now you have motivation to actually take advantage of the courses and the opportunities that are there how about you Josh and think about you and your friends too and what your experience might have been at Enosburg which is your small but fine school right I figured that the jumpstart was way better than coasting for a year and in school and I find it that it was kind of a waste for the senior year because with the schooling the way it was set up now it's all based on proficiency and stuff at Enosburg but when I was there it was just based on credits and almost every high school that never failed a class and got good grades and did all their classes are supposed to only have one credit they have to get their senior year and for that one credit it wasn't a hard course load so they're doing a lot of electives because you had to have a full course or like a close to a full course at the school so they're taking classes that they didn't need and time that could have been put into college which I wanted to get a jumpstart on it so the missing out on high school year versus going to college is better choice to go to college sure so I've got time for a couple more questions but I just want to say again for the viewers that if you want to find out more about dual enrollment and early college you can go to the Vermont State College system website which is vsc.edu and you can navigate around and find it or you could go to any one of the colleges within colleges or universities within the state college system or you should be able to see your your school counselors as well to help you out and that's my next question I mean did you find your high schools now your Windsor high school right are they supportive of you doing this or trying to convince you not to do it and I'll ask you the same question in a minute Josh they were fairly supportive since they will still be getting my since I'm technically graduating from there they'll still be getting the credit for me graduating okay but I'll also be going forward and I'll have a better start right so they didn't try to put up you know roadblocks or anything like that there oh no they were amazing they gave us a lot of information actually they were the ones who set up the initial meeting between the college and the high school well for us it was my parents they also do it for students as well that's great good to know how about you Josh for for me I found out on my own found out about it on my own and I talked to my guidance counselor and at first we were on different ideas on it because I was a little I goofed off a little in high school but because I was bored I wasn't didn't have enough to do and by talking to her and talking about it I really found that I was just done with high school and needed to move on so she was very supportive and she helped me set up meetings and contacted the school so it was she was helped a lot of guidance counselors have since then they've been holding meetings at the school about it and to parents come in and stuff and I've actually gone to the meetings and talked with Johnson at the meeting so it was I think they're more introducing it to students now than they did when I was there you know you you raised a good point there that made me think of something and back when my hair wasn't as gray I used to be involved with the early college program at Vermont technical college it's called the Vermont Academy of Science and Technology and people had this idea that you know the the vast program was for kids at you know or like really advanced and you know geniuses and math and science and technology but what I found was it was often students you know really were just not fitting in and they were like you said just done with high school and they were just they weren't it wasn't like that they were college geniuses they just weren't engaged right and just getting into that different setting allowed them to actually get motivated and get engaged so that's a good thing for board with the high school yeah seeing there's like I like for me I was the maturity level in high school was not where I wanted to be in I was just ready to be out of there so okay that's why I took for a route instead I was I was gonna do my English credit over the summer and just get my diploma and then go to college anyways I figured that was a better better route okay so you know Sophia what should this the the folks that are watching you know take away from this meeting about whether they should think about this or not think about it honestly I think that a lot of people do not know about the program and I feel like it needs to be and I feel like people need to know that it's an amazing program for all kinds of people I did all right in my classes but and do the best and I feel like the early college really matured me and made me want to go further and do more than I initially wanted to do did it give you confidence in terms of thinking hey I can do this I could go to college I could go to get my master's degree that you know that I have a little bit more you know confidence that I can do do college I actually it really did my actually me my advisor we're just talking about that the other day when I had my meeting about classes I it really made me feel better about being able to do it because I never thought I would like actually be really in the college it kind of felt like it was something I had to do but now it feels like something I want to do well that's great I think we ought to finish it right there Sophia Blanchard from Windsor early college student at community College of Vermont in the Upper Valley in Wilder and Josh Gagnier and sophomore at Johnson State College one year after you should have been a you should be in your freshman year but you're you're into your sophomore year I'm really glad you were able to share this exciting opportunity for students in Vermont again if you want to find out more to go to VSC.edu I want to thank all the viewers for tuning in to higher education matters we'll be recording another program in the next month I want to thank Orca for providing the opportunity and if there's anything we can do to help in any college matters please get in touch