Program Spotlight: Dual Enrollment By Renna Petrides
Melbourne High School has many different academic programs to offer, including International Baccalaureate, Advanced Placement, and Dual Enrollment. The Dual Enrollment program offers students a way to begin their college careers by allowing them to go to Eastern Florida State College and start taking classes. Now, the fall semester for Eastern Florida has officially ended and students wrapped up their classes with finals. Sophomores Rylee McWhorter, Tegan Lee, and Kayleen Velazquez all finished their first semester of college classes.
There are many different reasons for doing dual enrollment, but there are also a lot of similarities. McWhorter said, “I thought dual enrollment was a good opportunity because it saves a lot of money and you can get prerequisites for engineering, which is what I’m planning on doing.” She decided to take World Religions and College Algebra. “I took world religions to satisfy my humanities credit. I took college algebra because I’m in AP Precalculus right now and I plan to take Calculus at Eastern, but I didn’t want that to be the first math class that I take in college. It also helped for SAT prep,” said McWhorter.
There are many different aspects of the dual enrollment program that makes it different from others. Velazquez said, “I did it because of free college and I feel like it can help me a lot in the future.” Velazquez decided to take Spanish and Success Strategies for College. At Melbourne High School, students can choose to take college classes for credits, or they can do the early college program, which allows students to get their associates degrees. “I did it because I wanted to graduate with my AA and so I only have to spend two years on my bachelors instead of the full four years,” said Lee. Lee took College Algebra and U.S. History to 1877.
Just like in high school, college classes end with finals. Some professors provide a study guide, insight to what is going to be on the test, or a review. McWhorter’s professors supplied her with a review for one class, and the other was open note. “For my algebra exam there was a review that was just like the test and that was really helpful. My world religions exam was all open note and in my notes I added other things that he said would be on the exam,” said McWhorter. There is a rewarding feeling that comes after finishing finals for any class. Velazquez said, “I passed both of my finals with A’s. I was very shocked, I got a 100% on one exam and a 95% on the other. I did study but I didn’t think I did that good.” Lee also passed all of his finals with A’s. “I felt really happy but I was a little upset because I got a 91%, but it didn’t round up to an A in my class overall. I ended with an 89.4%,” said Lee.