When senior Lauren Honeycutt graduates from North Rowan High School next spring, she’ll already have earned 17 credit hours toward a college degree.
But Honeycutt, her school’s student body president, isn’t taking Advanced Placement (AP) courses to earn credit in college courses such as biology, psychology, sociology and statistics. Instead, she commutes to
Rowan-Cabarrus Community College each week, where she works with many older students.
Honeycutt, who hopes to enter a U.S. military academy, said that North Carolina’s Huskins Program, which allows high-school students to take courses at community colleges, opens new opportunities.
“When taking an AP course, transfer credit is entirely dependent on passing a standardized AP test,” she told the
Rowan-Cabarrus Board of Trustees on Monday. “In some cases, this test is given months after completing a course. In contrast, Huskins classes are based on a semester of work and study. Successful passage is not based on just one post-course test.
“The other advantage ... is being able to be on campus with a diverse population of students and teachers who really care.”
While attending South Rowan High School, Kannapolis native Bradley Adams turned to
Rowan-Cabarrus to study automotive mechanics. Adams said the opportunity helped him find a job with Salisbury Lincoln-Mercury-Mazda making more money than he could have without it.
“I knew this was going to be a drastic change for me.
“It makes you grow up faster going from one campus to another. ... The atmosphere changed dramatically. My grade point average went up.”
Rowan-Cabarrus accepts students from 12 high schools in the two counties it primarily serves. Any student 16 or older can participate.
Emily Behm, director of workforce development for Cabarrus County Schools, said the distance from high schools to community college campuses can pose problems for such students. But high-school students benefit in two ways.
They are able to take courses that high schools don’t typically offer. They’re also able to interact with college students at an earlier age.
“They have to have a maturity level and independence that they don’t normally need in a regular class. That forces them to take this more seriously,” said Donna Leroy, a counselor at
A.L. Brown High School.
In other business Monday, the Board of Trustees for Rowan-Cabarrus:
- Accepted a $10,000 donation from the Salisbury Community Foundation to help the college provide courses to firefighters, emergency responders and nursing students.
“The Salisbury Community Foundation has always supported us, and this is just the latest installment in that community support,” said trustee Dan Williams, president of F&M Bank and the college foundation.
- Heard from President Dr. Dick Brownell, who told trustees that enrollment has risen 37 percent in the past five years, including 8 percent last year and 15 percent this fall.
The budget passed by state lawmakers last week only includes funding to support the 8 percent growth of last year, he continued.
“If we had not received that, we would be closing our doors at the end of this semester,” Brownell said.
“... Community colleges have to become more effective in getting the ears of the legislators. We’re not doing very well at all.”
- Heard that renovations to Building 100 on the Salisbury campus should begin next month. The project will cost $1.8 million.
- Learned about 16 students who are receiving scholarships this year. To earn them, students must keep a cumulative 3.0 grade point average and attend Rowan-Cabarrus the previous two semesters. The scholarships are funded from a small percentage of the sale of textbooks and supplies at the college bookstore.
Winners this year are: Robert Alexander II, Diane Hahn, Sarah Koon, Sherri Trexler, Shannon Albright, Meredith Corl, Amber Parker, Angela Steele, Janet Daniels, Shonda Perkins, Frances Stapleton, Tania Fowler, Tamera Mallimo, Kay Thomas, Michelle Feeny and John Bechtel.
Contact Brad A. Hodges at 704-797-4266 or bhodges@salisburypost.com
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