EVERETT— Gov. Jay Inslee greeted a group of goggled students working on an experiment in an Everett High School advanced chemistry class. “Hey guys, what are you working on?” he asked.
Inslee noted that the ninth-grade students were doing college-level work. “Wow,” Inslee said. “You guys deserve big props for this.”
He asked if they were taking advantage of an opportunity to earn college credits for their work through the College in the High School program.
“The only reason not to is if you can’t afford it,” one student told the governor.
In fact, having the money to pay for college-level credits is one factor that’s holding back students from taking a step that will not only advance their education but save them money when they get to college.
Of the 30 students in the advanced-level chemistry class, just three were getting college credits for their work. To earn the college credits, students pay a fee which is less than what it would cost on a college campus.
As one example, taking 15 credits at Everett Community College during the 2014-15 school year would have cost $1,333. Earning the same number of credits at EvCC through the College in the High School program would have cost $594, according to the Everett School District.
Students do the same work as their classmates. Yet they leave their high school class with something double in value — graduation credits for high school as well as college credit, school district spokeswoman Mary Waggoner said.
The district’s College in the High School Program with EvCC is the largest such program in the state, she said. “It’s a huge opportunity for local kids,” Waggoner said. “I think that’s why the governor is looking at ways to fund it at the state level.”
At Everett High School, of the 1,084 students enrolled in courses for which they could earn college credits, only 268 are doing so, Waggoner said.
The governor was invited to the high school Tuesday to get a look at several other classes. He next visited an advanced placement biology class. Inslee told students working with pipettes — slender tubes used to transfer liquid — that his dad had taught biology. One of the students, Nick Finley, a sophomore, told the governor that he hopes to become a surgeon.
In the school library, Inslee talked with students in a computer science course and heard from their teacher, Jennifer Ozbon, on the importance of students learning computer coding. She suggested that the state should consider making such a course a requirement.
Christina Durr, an 11th grader, has a goal of attending the University of Washington and entering the computer science industry. Of the 20 students in the class, just three are girls, she said. Those kind of numbers can scare off some people, Durr said, but she said she likes the challenge.
Inslee leaned down to get a close look at some of the wheeled robotic devices students had been working on for the past few weeks as a class project.
Insley’s visit “shows his interest in changing things, helping where he can, and improving accessibility for such classes.
“Being able to take this class is amazing,” Durr said. “He wants to get computer science and programming out to everyone.”
Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486; salyer@heraldnet.com.
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