Two peas in a pod…that’s what most people think of when they meet South High School students Milexie Evri and Shannen Jimenez. These seniors are virtually inseparable and are now preparing for their futures through the Early College Program at QCC. This is a program that allows high school students to take college courses for college credit at no cost, while simultaneously attending high school.
“Being able to experience college, the classes, and the college environment for credit, and for free, has been great,” Milexi said.
In September 2020, we were awarded a Commonwealth Dual Enrollment Partnership (CDEP) Grant of $32,400 that will be used to offer college credit courses to more underserved students in the Worcester County Early College Programs. Data collected by QCC found that the largest Worcester Public School student populations who participated in the 2018-2019 academic year were Latinx (29.2%) and Black (28.8%).
Currently high school students in 7 Worcester public high schools, as well as 22 additional area Central Massachusetts high schools are taking advantage of the program. So far, 42% of the Early College students have enrolled at here at the college within one year of taking early college courses. In late November 2020, we received a one-year $20,000 grant from the George W. Wells Foundation, Bank of America, N.A., Trustee to support an Early College Program at Southbridge High School.