Feature: Running Start: Right for Your Teen?
Running Start:
Right for Your Teen?
2018 Clark College Running Start Information Nights: An opportunity for current high school sophomores and juniors (and their parents) to learn more about Running Start, including eligibility requirements,deadlines and more.
January 24 or February 28 or March 7 (all Wednesdays) 7-8 pm at Clark College Gym (O’Connell Sports Complex) (These meetings are optional and identical—do not attend more than one.)
Visit
By Natalie Hyland
F
www.clark.edu/runningstart for more information.
For teens, the final two years of high school are fraught with questions about future education, career plans, and launching into adult life. For parents of these teens, these same years require a delicate balance of support and encouragement tempered by incremental freedoms. Striking that balance starts with becoming acquainted with the educational opportunities available to your child in high school and beyond. One of these valuable opportunities that can have long lasting effects is Running Start, a program that offers qualifying high school students the chance to earn both high school and college credits during high school. The cost benefits alone make it a tantalizing option, but is it a viable one for your student? Angelia Riveira, On-Campus Running Start Advisor at Central Washington University, says, “Running Start students tend to be above average.” Students in the program are mature, independent, self-starting individuals who desire to get ahead in ways they can only imagine. Here are a few questions to consider as you and your child discuss their suitability for Running Start.
Is your student a mature and independent learner?
Riveira says that the bulk of the responsibility falls on the student’s shoulders when it comes to the Running
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Start program. Parents “need to take into consideration the maturity level of their student,” she says. “It’s important that students can be independent.” Still, she notes, plenty of academic support is available through both college and high school resources, so students can feel free to explore the possibilities. Brandy Hutton, a 2016 graduate of Lower Columbia College (LCC) chose Running Start after feeling that her high school classes weren’t challenging her or offering her enough variety. “I took of lot of different interesting classes [through Running Start],” says Hutton, now a psychology major at Eastern Washington University. “It really helped me make sure that psychology was what I wanted to do.” Community colleges like LCC and Clark College offer a wide variety of classes from pre-college math, to advanced chemistry, to theater and advanced art.
Does your student crave freedom?
With the Running Start program, your student has the ability to create his own schedule and make (most of) his own rules. If he wants to wait until noon to go to class, he can. If he wants to be done with classes by 2 p.m. he can. If your student feels like he needs a day off, guess what? He can do that too. There is no one to watch over and monitor his attendance and grades daily. But while students are protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy
Vancouver Family Magazine • www.vancouverfamilymagazine.com • January 2018
Act (FERPA), which states that a student has the right to sign off on who can have access to academic information, Riveira reminds parents that students’ college course semester grades are sent to their high school, which parents can access. The program also eases the student into the transition from high school to college life, without actually living on her own. Central Washington University student, Leanne Fraker, says participating in Running Start lessened the impact of moving away from home to university. Fraker, who now studies public relations says, “It was really cool to branch out and not be with all the same kids I’ve known forever.” She also says that the mandatory meetings each quarter with a Running Start advisor helped to prepare her for selecting classes on her own during her first year at Central Washington University.
Is your student seeking more than a typical high school experience?
High school isn’t the right fit for everyone, Riveira points out, but it is possible for those who still want to be involved in their high school while attending off-site college courses to do so. Washington state law requires high schools to allow Running Start students full participation in clubs, sports and high school events. While continued on page 26