Finishing college in high school

FRANKLIN–The Macon Early College High School (MEC) is in its fifth-year of operation, and while the school’s state funding isn’t guaranteed past this year, it’s already become part of the permanent landscape in Macon County.

“It gives you an idea of what college is really like… you’re dual-enrolled and it helps you adapt and grow as a person,” said Jesse Turpin, a member of MEC’s first graduating class.

Turpin, who was raised in the Burningtown community and knew he wanted to join the military after high school, reflects the diversity of students the program draws.

“We’re not cherry-picking,” said Principal Todd Gibbs. “We’re trying to reflect what the high school has, but with one large difference. And that’s finding students with motivation and self-direction.”

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Begun as part of Gov. Easley’s New Schools Project, the early college is an alternative pathway through secondary school and community college. The national push to create programs that bridge high school and college curriculums began with seed money from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. There are now 130 early college high school programs in 24 states across the country.

Southwestern Community College and the Macon County School District have worked hand in hand to create a local model that works.

MEC has 13 faculty and staff members on the county payroll and one full-time SCC administrator, Shelly Nixon, who works as a liaison between the students and their high school and college instructors.

“It takes a semester or two for some of them to understand how to use a planner, hot to take advantage of independent work opportunities,” Nixon said. “I think all college freshmen have a hard time with that transition and I think early college does a better job with it in some ways, because they are eased in.”

What began in an aging building in Cartoogechaye with 50 9th-graders and a directive to create a new kind of learning environment has grown into a whole different kind of school. This year 138 students are enrolled at MEC, which has been housed in a new campus adjacent the the SCC college center and Macon County Library since 2007.

Early Colleges are grant-funded, not funded by average daily membership like other public schools. This year 13 of the programs around the state are up for renewal of their initial five-year grants. With the General Assembly facing record budget shortfalls, it will be a nervy year for MEC administrators.

But SCC Vice President, Connie Haire, who runs the Macon Campus and helped start MEC, thinks early colleges have reached a critical mass around the state that would make it difficult for the General Assembly to cut their funding.

Haire also believes the early college model is the front line of confronting waning student engagement at the secondary school level.

“Students will persist if they have a connection to one or more people at school,” Haire said. “We’re small enough here that all of us know some of the students. Nobody flies under the radar and that really goes a long way to solidifying the relationship.”

Students come to MEC as rising 9th graders and commit to a five-year curriculum that can give them both a high school diploma and a two-year college degree when they graduate.

Gaitry Aruwani, a 15-year-old in her second year, said her teachers made the transition from high school to college easy.

“It is a lot of responsibility, but it doesn’t really burden me because you get used to it after a while,” Aruwani said. “The first semester, they start you off pretty slow. They give you high school classes and then they give you one college class, which is like a transition class to get you ready for the rest of the classes. The school kind of builds you     up to the responsibilities.”

The reward of a free associates degree is a tantalizing motivator for students and their parents.

Andrew Mershimer is a first year student at MEC. He plans to graduate at 18 with a high school diploma and a two-year associates degree.

“The early college has more opportunities for me. I really wanted to get to college and get it over with and move on, get a job, and move on with my life a whole lot faster,” Mershimer said.

Across the country, early college high schools have had lower dropout rates, higher graduation rates and higher rates of transfer to four-year universities.

Ryan Douglass, a fifth-year student at MEC, admits it took him a while to get used to the program. His story is the kind that inspires principal Todd Gibbs.

“A lot of our parents don’t have a college degree, so they see the value in the opportunity for their sons and daughters,” Gibbs said. “Getting their sons and daughters to see it is the challenge, because they’re still kids.”

A so-so student, Douglass was motivated by the offer of a free college degree, and he grew up fast.

“I kind of changed a lot. I got more responsible. I learned I could be really responsible,” Douglass said. “You just gotta be put in the situation where you have to be responsible.”

Douglass thinks he would have finished high school no matter where he went, but as he prepares for an electrical engineering program at SCC, he said the early college has changed him as a person.

“I don’t think I’d be the same person if I didn’t come to this school,” Douglass said.

For Gibbs, that kind of transformation justifies the state’s money and the county’s support of a program on the cutting edge of public education.

“I think we’ve got a gem here, and we’ve just got to keep polishing it,” Gibbs said.

To learn more about the Macon Early College High School, visit the Web site here.

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