Students Get a Taste of College Education

He was about to take his first college final, but Isaac Taylor, 17, didn’t see any reason to be nervous as he settled into his seat with a No. 2 pencil.

After all, the test conditions couldn’t have been better.

He had taken the course for free. He found the subject matter--the history of rock music--to be “cool.” And he was on familiar turf, surrounded by his fellow Oxnard High School students in the choir room of their home campus.

“Every now and then it kind of clicks that this is a college class,” said Isaac, a senior who plans to attend Ventura College. “I needed the credit anyway, and this seemed like a fun and easy way to get it.”

Stress-free or not, by the time Isaac turned in his exam, he had accomplished several objectives, for himself and for the High School Partnership program Oxnard College launched this year in an effort to put more students on the path to college.

By enrolling in a community college class that met after school two days a week, he earned a high school elective credit and three college fine arts credits. Oxnard College officials hope that taking that first step will give Isaac and students like him the confidence to pursue a college career.

“It allows students to experience the virtual reality of college in a comfortable environment. They get a taste of it, and by succeeding, college becomes a realistic goal,” said Jaime Casillas, dean of outreach programs at Oxnard College. “They see it as a huge hurdle they jumped and it never dawned on them they could.”

Courses Open to All Students

Although Ventura County’s community colleges offer night courses on high school campuses as both a space-saving measure and a convenience to far-flung adult students, the Oxnard College initiative represents a departure in its mission of providing college-level instruction tailor-made for teenagers.

While ambitious high school students have long taken community college classes to enhance their resumes, the on-site, after-school option is designed to reach those who lack the transportation or personal drive to enroll in a class that meets on a college campus or in the evening, Casillas said.

Since the “dual credit” program was launched last summer at Hueneme, Oxnard and Rio Mesa high schools, more than 450 students have participated in its classes, Casillas said. The courses have no eligibility requirements and are open to all high school students.

During the pilot summer term-- which included courses in Chicano theater, ethnic studies, the history of rock music, the history of jazz, and Chicano studies--75% of enrollees passed with a grade of C or better, according to Casillas.

District May Expand Program

This past fall, the program was offered at Oxnard, Hueneme and Channel Island high schools, and college officials want to expand it to every high school in the Oxnard-Union High School District next semester. They also plan to increase courses to include subjects such as broadcast journalism and sociology.

In exchange for classroom space, the college makes the courses available to high school students tuition-free.

Marcy Duncan, a guidance counselor at Hueneme High School, said the two classes the college offered at her school last summer “were just bursting full.”

“It was an opportunity for students to get more credits and to take college prep courses in summer school, where most of the classes the high schools offer are remediation, and that made our kids happy,” she said.

As an added bonus, the two courses, Chicano theater and ethnic studies, carried credits transferable to the Cal State and University of California college systems.

Oxnard College’s effort to reach out to local high school students is part of a growing movement by community colleges in Ventura County and across the nation to serve so-called “nontraditional” students, which include everyone from teenagers to senior citizens.

For example, two years ago, Moorpark College founded an alternative school on its campus for bright students who were not succeeding in traditional high school settings.

Next semester, Ventura College will offer 83 free “companion” courses to adults 50 and older as part of its “Emeritus Institute,” a program geared for those who want to continue their educations without the stress of exams or grades.