At the Vienna High School participation in dual credit courses is becoming normal.
VIENNA, Ill. (WSIL) -- As costs for higher education increase, high school students are working to earn as many college credits as possible before they graduate.Studies show schools in southern Illinois have higher participation in dual credit than most of the state.
At the Vienna High Schoolparticipationin dual credit courses is becomingnormal.
Some underclassmen are getting ready for their first round of dual credit classes with Southeastern Illinois College, while seniors are getting readyto graduate withbotha high school diploma and anassociate's.
Jillian Jones just received her associate in arts from SIC andis about toreceive her high school diploma on May 17th. She is excited for a summer of traveling before she starts her first year of college as technically a junior in college.
�I'mvery proud of myself for being able to do itconsideringthat I transferred from a school where none of these dual credit classeswere offered,”�Jones said.
Jones says she took some dual credit classes on her owntooather school in Pope County.
�I'mgoing to McKendree University to specialize in elementary and special education.�
After experiencing whatit'slike to teach younger students in one of her classes,she'ssteps closer to being a teacher.
“That definitely puts me alittle bit ahead to justfocus on what I want to go into directly,”�Jones said.
But students graduating with theirassociate'sdegree has become like a tradition at Vienna High School. Thisyear'sgraduating class has completedmore than2,000 credit hours toward their college degrees. Superintendent Joshua Stafford says they also have10seniors graduating with theirassociate'sdegrees.
�We'vebeen able to do that for over a decade with students here in Vienna,”�Stafford says. So every yearwe'vehad students graduate with their collegediplomasand high school diplomas within the same week.�
Stafford says dual credit is becoming more common in southernIllinois,andinsomewaysbetter than AP courses.
“That credits are transferable to all state institutions. So dual creditIthinktends to be the better win for our kids here in Illinois andreallyaround the nation as you look at AP versus dual credit,”�Stafford says.
Stafford adds since Vienna High School added early college programming, more of its graduates go on to higher education. He said 70% ofVienna's2023 class enrolled in colleges and universities.
“Which is well above the state average and well above where we used to be before we started early college programming,”�Stafford says.�Before we started early college programming,it wasunder 50% of our students post high school graduation would go on to be in a college or university.�
Stafford says their seniors have seen many benefits with taking dual credit classes, including lowering college costsbut alsoshowing students they canbe successfulin college.
Ԩou know the answer to the question, your college materialandyou can do it,”�Stafford said.
Maelee Sparks graduated from Vienna High School in 2022 and was just accepted into amaster'sprogram at 20 years old after graduating from UT MARTIN.
was able tojust now graduate with mybachelor'sdegree in elementary education. Solikethiswhole school year,I'vebeen student teachingandit hasjustreally helped a lot,”�Sparks said.
Sparks�'goal is tocome backto Illinois or Tennessee to be a teacher. Sparks says she took a lot of math classes with dual credit.
took math for elementary teachers at the same timeandI was able to realize that those college classes were helping each other,”�Sparks says.�It was really cool to see how those things I was learning in college were helping me in high school and, you know, vice versa.�
Stafford says Vienna High Schools will have seniors graduating from several community colleges before they receive their high school diplomas.
