This fall, Greenfield High School student Brianna Grover, 17, will be attending classes, doing homework and interacting with her classmates just like her peers in the rest of the senior class, but with one big difference. Grover will be doing all that at Greenfield Community College.<\/p>\n
Grover is one of 13 students from GHS taking courses at GCC this fall in a new collaborative program between the school and the college. Seniors and juniors can take courses that fulfill both college and high school credit, allowing them to finish their high school degree and start their higher education at the same time. Grover, who is enrolled at GCC as a full-time student, is taking anatomy, English 101, French and algebra. She said she joined the program because she had enough credits to graduate in half a year and wanted to go ahead and get started with her college work.<\/p>\n
\"It's really good, it's a lot of fun,\" she said about taking classes at GCC. Grover said she is enjoying the freedom that comes from working at the college level. Teachers are more lenient in terms of working with her if there is a conflict in the way of getting work down.<\/p>\n
Terry Boyce, Dean of Student Affairs at GCC, said that's part of point of allowing these students take courses at GCC. She said some students mature faster than others and are ready to take on courses that involve a bit more independence. \"The basic crux is creating opportunities for students who could benefit from a less restrictive environment to earn both college and high school credit,\" Boyce said. \"Often the students who would benefit from the program are socially more mature and ready to take on some more independent course work. And they are socially and emotionally mature enough to handle a less restrictive environment.\"<\/p>\n
The college once had a similar program with Greenfield High School under the state Dual Enrollment program, but funding for that was cut. The college has also had an ongoing collaboration with Amherst School District called Educational Transitions Program. This new program will mirror the ETP at Greenfield High School. Officials from both the college and the high school are thrilled about the potential of this program.<\/p>\n
\"I want to thank all at GCC and GHS who have worked to create this program,\" said GCC President Bob Pura. \"This collaboration will help to build a stronger path for those who might not have taken the journey. Could there be a better time for that?\" GHS Principal Nancy Athas said the program gives her students more opportunities to learn at their individual level and style. \"Some of them are definitely ready to take the next step and be independent. They are more mature and ready to take on responsibility,\" Athas said. \"Given the world we live in, it's good to address the learning styles of different students.\"<\/p>\n
Athas said the program was born from a meeting this summer between Pura and the Greenfield School District. Because the program was planned over the summer, guidance counselors recommended 13 students they thought would benefit from the program. Of those, eight chose to apply. But word of the program spread and other students began applying for the program, bringing the total number of GHS students attending GCC this year to 13. Some of the students are taking the courses part-time and others, like Grover, are full-time. \"When we started, we were hoping to have six or seven students. We have expanded beyond what we expected and I credit Nancy Athas for that,\" Boyce said. \"We are expecting to expand the program to have 20 students this spring.\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This fall, Greenfield High School student Brianna Grover, 17, will be attending classes, doing homework and interacting with her classmates just like her peers in the rest of the senior class, but with one big difference. Grover will be doing all that at Greenfield Community College.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gcc.mass.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gcc.mass.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gcc.mass.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcc.mass.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcc.mass.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcc.mass.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gcc.mass.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcc.mass.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gcc.mass.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}