A Millarville area student was able to stay at home and get a head start on his university education.
Christian Keenan, a first-year astrophysics student at the University of Calgary, earned post-secondary credits while being home-schooled with Christ the Redeemer Catholic School’s Centre for Learning@Home.
“I was in Grade 10 and Mr. (Hans) Woehleke sent out an email about the dual credit program and how it was a beneficial thing for high school students to do,” Keenan said. “I just thought it was a good thing to do.”
The dual credit program, which is run through Bow Valley College, allows students to take courses which not only go towards their high school diploma, but also credit for post-secondary education.
Keenan successfully completed four dual credit courses, to earn the 20 credits for high school.
“It had its challenges,” Keenan admitted. “The law one was probably the most difficult, but as long as you applied yourself and did your school work, it was okay.”
While Newton’s laws may rule in astrophysics, Keenan said he can still used the social science course he took through the dual-credit program towards university.
“I haven’t used them yet,” Keenan said of the credits. “But I am hoping to use them towards my options (electives) towards my degree in the future.
“I am not sure career wise where I am going, but if I wanted to do some kind of business — aerospace research or something — it (the dual credit courses) offers me greater insight to the business management world and just the general working of business.”
Taking the dual courses helped him in high school and to prepare for the rigours of university.
“The way the dual-credit courses were setup they were a lot more self-paced,” said Keenan, who was a 90 per cent plus in high school. “That helped me with my high-school learning with planning and getting my work done effectively and efficiently, rather than just when it is due.”
The dual credit makes business sense. CTR Catholic picks up the tab for the dual credit courses.
CFL@Home has partnered with BVC for the past three years during which time more than 100 high school students have received dual credits in a variety of college courses including: anatomy and physiology, business law, medical terminology, tourism, marketing, management, and criminal justice.
Many of these students have also received a Bow Valley College Business Entrepreneurship Certificate for completing four college courses in business in addition to earning 20 high school CTS credits.
“We thought this was an excellent opportunity to enhance student opportunities at the high school level,” said Woehleke, with the Centre for Learning@Home. “It is great for our school — we are a school of choice and anyone can contact us to enrol in the program.”
Recently 22 students from CFL earned five high school credits by completing the Introduction to Marketing through Bow Valley College.
The students had a cohort average of more than 80 per cent.
