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Students get acclimated with new early college high school
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Published: August 14, 2009
CONCORD — Angie Vasquez, 14, had the first-day-of-school jitters this week that many students and even teachers experience. But Vasquez was not only starting her first day of high school, she was also beginning her college career.
"(The night before), I couldn't sleep," Vasquez said. "I thought, 'what if I forget to do this?' or 'what if I get behind?'"
Vasquez is one of the 49 students who began the academic year at the new Cabarrus-Kannapolis Early College High School on Monday.
The new high school is an opportunity for rising freshmen to earn a high school diploma and associate's degree or up to two years of college transfer credit in the four- or five-year program.
"These are more the middle students who have never been challenged," said Vance Fishback, principal for Early College High School. "We are able to take them in the small class environment and really challenge them."
Students will take the traditional high school classes, such as Algebra I and Earth Science, but they will also earn credit for college-level classes.
Currently, Early College High School is operating at the new Cox Mill High School, but in October, the school expects to move to its home at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College's South Campus in Concord, when renovations are complete.
As the students sat in the Cox Mill High classrooms on Wednesday, they might have looked like they were in a typical high school setting. The overall experience is very different from a typical high school, though, Vasquez said.
"Normal (high school) kids don't get to experience learning and fun as much as we get to," Vasquez said. "We get more freedom, and we are much closer."
On the second day of school, Vasquez and her peers participated in a game that was similar to the television show, "Amazing Race."
The purpose of the first week of school was to get the students acquainted and have extra academic time before college classes start next week, Fishback said.
For the third day on Wednesday, the students spent the morning completing academic challenges with their three teachers for points. All 49 students are split into three groups, called learning communities, and will try to earn the most points throughout the year for various incentives.
"It's kind of (like) the Harry Potter thing," Fishback said.
In the English academic challenge, students silently worked together to write instructions for making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich without missing any steps. In science, they answered questions about the earth and famous scientists.
In math, they solved problems and earned materials to build the highest tower with paper and tape.
After their academic challenges, Vasquez's learning community returned to its homeroom to begin a lesson introducing "To Kill a Mockingbird," the novel the students will soon begin reading.
Students were given a piece of paper and told to write a response after they heard 12 statements. Then, the students left their seats to go to the sides of the room if they agreed, disagreed or were torn about statements such as, "All men are created equal."
While Vasquez said she enjoyed that activity because it made her reflect on her life experiences, the highlight of the day for her and the other students was when they each received laptops.
Steve Alexander, the chief technology officer for Cabarrus County Schools, distributed the laptops to the students on Wednesday. Alexander said the school system was able to purchase the laptops from Dell for the price of desktops.
Many of the students waited eagerly in line for their laptops, which they will return when they finish school.
"It's not every day you get a free laptop," Vasquez said. "That's really going to help with the college classes."
When families heard that Early College students were receiving the laptops, many parents were in tears, Alexander said.
"This is huge," Alexander said. "I am a first-generation college graduate myself. It's not only what we can do for students to keep them in school, it's what we can do for families to get (their student) a high school and college degree at no cost."
Seventy percent of the students at the new high school will be first-generation college students, meaning that their parents did not receive a four-year degree or they were delayed in earning it, Fishback said.
While Vasquez will not be a first-generation college graduate, like her peers, she plans to take advantage of the opportunities at Early College High School and eventually become a pediatrician.
Vasquez said she was nervous about missing out on normal teenage experiences by not attending the traditional high school but said this opportunity is worth it.
"I think this experience is good for anybody who wants to get a jump start on their career," Vasquez said. "I'm trying to go big."
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