Dual-credit classes offered

MOUNT PLEASANT -- Most of Daniel Hurlburt's classmates had gone home for the day by the time his anatomy and physiology class started last semester.

The Wando High School senior couldn't squeeze the elective course into his already jam-packed schedule, but he and a small group of peers took the class after school at Wando High and earned college credit.

It was the first time the school kept its doors open after the last bell rung to offer this type of class, but it's a concept Principal Lucy Beckham hopes to expand upon this spring and beyond.

"High schools today have to be different," she said. "It's about creating opportunities for this very large and diverse population to give them the access they need."

This spring, a handful of high schools in the Lowcountry will offer on campus, after-school dual-credit classes in partnership with Trident Technical College. Students pay for tuition and books, and they earn high school and college credit. High schools provide the space for the class, and the college covers the rest of the costs.

Students who don't attend Wando High also can enroll in these college-level classes.

In addition to the classes at Wando High, the Dorchester County Career & Technology Center will have after-school, on-site classes in cosmetology, early childhood education and general education, and Stratford High School will have a culinary arts course.

It's a relatively new arrangement for high schools and the college, but one that has a number of benefits, said Melissa Stowasser, director of high school programs for Trident Technical College.

The after-school classes on the high school campuses give students more opportunities to take courses and easier access to them, she said. It's a good use of taxpayers' money in that high schools are making the most of their building spaces, and the courses can offset schools' overcrowding problems because they aren't offered during the regular school day, she said.

Wando High is at capacity, and Beckham hopes she can free up space in other classes by students taking the after-hours, dual-credit courses. Beckham likes that the courses help solve a problem she's struggled with for years -- finding a way to give students who lack transportation more access to college-level classes in their community. The school has offered dual-credit courses during the day for at least eight years, but the after-school classes give students another chance to take them, she said.

Her long-term goal is to develop a list of college courses that high school students can take that are aligned to their career interest. Wando High has been on the forefront in terms of the number of dual-credit courses it offers, and Beckham is on the cutting edge of helping high school students in this way, Stowasser said.

The anatomy and physiology class that Hurlburt took was his first experience with a dual-credit course. He's thinking about pursuing a career in medicine, so he wanted the course to be thorough and challenging. That's why he opted for the dual-credit class instead of the one offered at the honors level.

He liked that it didn't start until after school because he wouldn't have had time to take it during the regular school day. He said the fact that it didn't start until later made it seem more like a college class, and the instructor approached it as such.

He would like to take more classes after school, he said. His Advanced Placement classes sometimes last two semesters instead of one, and that prohibits him from taking more electives, he said.

"My schedules have always been really full," he said. "I enjoy learning so I try to take as many courses as I can. If I could move some of those (electives) to after school, that would be helpful."

Reach Diette Courrégé at 937-5546 or dcourrege@postandcourier.com.