This week, Charlotte High School students will start scheduling classes for the 2016-2017 school year. As they begin the process, they will find that the opportunities that they have available to them are greater than at any other time in the school’s history, and that CHS has emerged as a leader in many areas. Divided into 16 different pathways, which include areas like engineering, health care, business, agriculture, insurance, and “Oriole University” (two or four year college preparation), among others, Charlotte’s curriculum offerings have grown immensely over the past few years. As students schedule, they will be able to choose the offerings that fit their college and career goals, thus helping to create a tailored educational experience that sets them up for future success.
The piece of CHS’s curriculum that has grown the most, though, is the set of college credit opportunities available to students starting as early as 10th grade. Currently, Charlotte High School offers 10 different Advanced Placement classes, and for the fifth year in a row, enrollment in those courses, the number of students taking the AP test, and the number of AP tests total has grown. Furthermore, next year marks the third year in a CHS partnership with Ferris State University, which gives students opportunities to earn free college credits during the high school day. Next year, students will be able to take Political Science 121 and 122, English 150, and possibly Spanish 101 right at Charlotte High School. CHS will also be offering a version of the Woodbridge College Promise Program, which Ferris State designed just for the Orioles. Students who successfully complete the two-year sequence will earn 30 transcripted college credits at no cost to them or their families.
Another tremendous opportunity is the Charlotte Early Middle College. As the only Early Middle College situated on a high school campus in Eaton County, and one of the few statewide, the Charlotte EMC offers students three distinct course sequences, tailored to their needs and goals. The first is CHS CARES (Collegiate Academic Responsive Education System), which matches students with a career goal and Lansing Community College coursework through the Eaton RESA Career and Technical Education program, and then pays for their freshman year at LCC as the students finish credits and career certifications.
The second, which is launching in the 2016-2017 school year, is the Bulldog Academy, in which students take all of the Ferris State classes available at CHS, and then 24 credits in their freshman year at LCC’s University Center and through Ferris State. This program results in students leaving CHS with 60 to 63 college credits upon graduation at no cost to them or their families.
The third opportunity in the Charlotte EMC is a partnership with the Capital Region Technical Early Middle College. In this program, students work through Eaton RESA’s Career and Technical Education program to earn up to an associate’s degree in predetermined career pathways. All three of these programs are designed to help students transition from high school to post secondary training and beyond, and they represent CHS’s commitment to regional leadership in college and career planning to create maximum benefits for all of its students.
Charlotte High School and its curriculum offerings have situated it as an emerging leader in the area and the state. The hard work and vision of its staff, students, and families are the driving force behind these shifts, and they have created an extremely bright future for all involved. More information on CHS’s programs and offerings can be found at charlottenet.org/charlotte_high_school.html under the scheduling tab at the top of the page.
Article submitted by
Charlotte Public Schools.
