FADE IN:

[Intro Music]

 

JOSH

Hi and welcome back to the Interns’ Chair. I am your Ascension Public Schools Public Information Office High School Intern and host, Josh.With Digital Media Coordinator Danielle Evans.

 

DANIELLE

Today we have a few questions for Josh, one of our interns about what it’s like to be in Early College Option. So Josh, what is Early College Option?

 

Josh

Early College Option is an alternative path through high school where you go to River Parishes Community College campus and you take high school classes for freshmen and sophomore year with one class taught by a college professor each semester, and then junior and senior year you’re just in all college classes with college students and college teachers


 

DANIELLE

 

So Early College Option is definitely a unique experience for a high school student.

 

Another question we’ve got is what is the environment like at Early College?

 

JOSH

 

I think the environment is different because the people who are in the program chose to be there. They chose it because they want to get ahead, they want to learn, they want to do the best they can in school. 

 

DANIELLE

Another question, what are the positives about the program?


 

JOSH

Well, it’s, as I said earlier, it’s very focused on learning, everyone is there to learn, they are dedicated to learning, so you can really cooperate with people who are willing to learn, like if you had a group project, or if you need help with a subject, or homework, or something like that. The class size is pretty small. Like my entire grade started off with 80-100 people, I think, and it’s only gotten smaller, so you know everyone in your grade by the end of freshmen year. You get to know your friends and you can see them most days.

 

DANIELLE

 

What are some of the cons with the Early College Option?

 

JOSH

Some cons about the Early College Option Program would be a lack of extracurricular activities, so that’s sports, band, clubs- really you many of those. You have BETA Club, and that’s most of what you can do, just in the Early College Program. You can do some programs at home, like clubs, like my little brother does DND club with Dutchtown. But since you’re not at the school, it can be a little weird to apply and go to your home high school sometimes. That’s what I find

 

DANIELLE

Okay, so it seems you do have access to clubs and programs after school, but you have to do those at your home school, not necessarily at Early College because Early College is a program, not a true high school-high school

 

JOSH

 

Yeah. 

 

DANIELLE

Alright, well what are the high school classes like?

 

JOSH

So for freshmen year, the high school classes, you have your basic ones, that’s english, biology, math and IBCA is in there as well. And IBCA stands for Intro to Computer Business Applications. It’s a computer class, you learn how to do Word and PowerPoint and Excel, and you learn basic computer things. It’s a nice class, I like the teacher. The rest of the high school classes, most of them are honors or dual enrollment classes. In a normal high school they would seem harder, I believe, than just your run of the mill class, but with Early College Option, they’re all that way, so the difficulty level is pretty much the same throughout, unless you have trouble with one particular subject or the other 

 

All the high school teachers are pretty understanding, they really want to help you, and try and prepare you for college, it’s probably good to listen to them when they try and spout advice. 

 

DANIELLE

What are the college classes like, how are they different from classes that a high school teacher may teach?

 

JOSH

With the college classes, most of them are lecture based, and you do your work at home, so that’s like, you go to class and your teacher reads from their for 50 minutes, or an hour and 15 minutes, and then you go home and you have homework on it, or you study it and try and memorize it for a test. The teachers don’t assign busy work in class, like you’re not going to have a worksheet to fill out generally, you’re going to be taking notes for most of the class. The college tests are generally not multiple choice, they are normally short answer or matching, or identification kind of things, but they give you the whole class to take it, and if you study for it I find it’s not too bad most of the time. The college teachers don’t really take the time to get to know their students a ton, you have to take the time to get to know your college professors if you want to be able to ask them questions and get reviews on essays or questions about lectures, that sort of thing. Those are the main differences.

 

DANIELLE

Why did you choose to go to Early College Option?

 

JOSH

Looking back on it, I first heard about the Early College Option when I was in my Talented and Gifted class in middle school with my friends, and they were talking about it and they wanted to go. Thinking back on it, I realize that I didn’t apply to get ahead, like I would advise to you guys.

 

DANIELLE

What advice would you offer a student who is interested in the program or maybe somebody who has already been accepted into the program?

 

JOSH

Be sure that you are able to make friends who can support you in academic stuff, because that is important. For students who are interested in the program, apply, honestly. You don’t have to accept right away, it’s just saying, just asking if I would be allowed to go to this, and if you realize it’s not for you, then you can say i don’t really want to do that, and that's fine. 

 

DANIELLE

What is your overall experience at E.C.O.?

 

JOSH

It’s been fairly positive, I learned what college classes are like before having to pay for a college class, so that was nice. It has just been fun, I made good friends, and I enjoyed college classes so far. It’s challenging but it’s not overwhelming

 

DANIELLE

What type of grades are needed to be a part of the E.C.O. program, do you have to be a straight A student to get accepted?

 

JOSH

No, you don’t have to be a straight A student. So long as you’re committed, and probably have above a 3.0, or around a 3.0 GPA, you should be accepted. If you’re not doing so great but you still get in, you’re going to need to make sure you’re prepared for the extra course load and be prepared to really put everything you have into it, because otherwise it would be pretty challenging.

 

DANIELLE

How do you apply and qualify for Early College Option.

 

JOSH

In order to apply to Early College Option, you have to be in 8th grade, and I believe there is an online application that you print out and send in. The principle, Dr. Simmons, will come around to each school and explain more of the application process. It’s questions like name, date of birth, what high school you’re going into, and then there are a couple of questions like why would you want to go into this program, how do plan on succeeding in it, questions along that vein.

JOSH

This has been Josh, your PIO High School Intern with Digital Media Coordinator Danielle Evans. Thank you so much for listening and tune in next time to the Interns’ Chair, but remember, I am just the intern. 

 

FADE IN:music

FADE OUT: