GISD, PJC dual credit gives students advantage

Published or Revised October 15, 2013

Greenville High School students are finding great success in participating in the dual credit program offered through Paris Junior College. This partnership between GISD and PJC is giving students like Maddy Crabtree and Jordan Henderson a chance to enter college or a university as a second semester freshman, or even as a sophomore. The dual credit program allows high school students attending public or private high school, or home school, to simultaneously enroll in a college course. PJC President Dr. Pamela Anglin said, “Dual credit provides a great jump start for high school students. Paris Junior College is proud to partner with Greenville ISD to provide dual credit opportunities to juniors and seniors. Students can get accustomed to taking college courses where the faculty member knows each student and can provide individual attention, while earning college credit at an affordable price.” Students participating in the dual credit program in high school are also enjoying the fact that enrollment into a university is much easier when they have already completed much of their freshman year. Crabtree took advantage of the dual credit program and enrolled at Texas Tech University as a second semester freshman. She said the advantages of taking dual credit classes through high school are phenomenal. “Attending Greenville High School was such an advantage — I took every dual credit class possible with the exception of math,” Crabtree said. “I entered into college with 22 hours, which is nearly a sophomore. Being ahead of all my classmates, I did not have to stress over the hardcore classes such as English and history, since those are very time consuming.” Crabtree added, “Taking those dual credit classes gave me the perfect advantage to start immediately with my major classes, which are more interesting then the simple core classes.” Don Jefferies, Superintendent of the Greenville Independent School District, said, "I have been working with dual-credit programs for over 25 years and it has been a pleasure to work with PJC in offering dual-credit classes to our Greenville High School students. Our parents and students are very appreciative of the dual-credit offerings we have on our high school campus as well as the convenience of going next door to PJC for additional classes.” Henderson, who entered Texas A&M University-Commerce after completing 27 college hours before graduating from Greenville High School, said that the opportunity to complete college hours in high school reduces the financial burden of college and makes it possible to finish college quicker. This, he said, enables him to get into the workforce a whole year or more earlier than others his age. “Having college hours under my belt really made the transition into the university much easier,” Henderson said. “I was already accustomed to the higher rigor of the course work. I feel that the dual credit program actually prepared me for real college level work.” A double major (math and Spanish) at A&M Commerce, Henderson said he would highly recommend that high school students make every effort to take dual credit courses. “They will save money, time, and the risk of not being prepared for life after high school,” he said. Greenville High School students have access to a multitude of courses taught at the high school campus, and a few taught at the PJC-Greenville Center campus. During the 2012-13 school year, a total of 229 students were enrolled in English 1301 and 2322, U.S. history, biology, college algebra and trigonometry. This year, there are 296 students enrolled in dual credit courses, including speech, government and economics being taught at the PJC-Greenville campus. There are also 15 students enrolled in the electromechanical program. Superintendent Jefferies added, “We have worked our master schedule in ways that allow for maximum access to dual-credit courses. Many of our courses are also open to students from other school districts. It is very rewarding when our students graduate from high school as sophomores in college!"