Spring 2002

Volume 5 Number 2
A publication of Macon State College

Getting a Jumpstart on College

Dr. Susan Durr, psychology instructor at Macon State, works one-on-one with Cole Brantley, a Westside High School senior taking college classes through the Postsecondary Options program. Photos by Sheron Smith

Central Georgia High School Students Begin College Early Through Macon State's Postsecondary Options Program

By Sheron Smith

To Joey Callaway, it was an offer he simply couldn't refuse. Earn college credit while he was still in high school? For free?

"My junior lit teacher told me about the Postsecondary Options program, and I knew I had to do it," said Callaway, 18, now a Westside High School senior. "I want to major in English, so the chance to take an English class for high school and college credit was a great deal."

Callaway isn't the only Central Georgia high school student to recognize a good deal when he sees one. Over the past few years, about 300 college prep juniors and seniors in the Bibb, Houston and Jones county school systems have taken advantage of Macon State's Postsecondary Options (PSO) program.

Through PSO, a state-funded initiative that recognizes the value of giving Georgia's best students challenging academic opportunities, Macon State faculty members teach freshman-level college courses, tuition free to students, on high school campuses during the regular school day. A student who successfully completes a PSO course simultaneously earns academic credit toward college and his or her high school graduation.

"Postsecondary Options is important to this region for a lot of reasons," said Dee Minter, Macon State's director of enrollment services. "It gives high school students a chance to take academically challenging college courses, and it encourages collaboration between the college and county school systems. It also helps parents, because it allows them to save money on college costs for their children."

Eager to learn

Macon State College has offered the Postsecondary Options program for a number of years. Course offerings, which vary among high schools, include freshman English, political science, history, psychology, sociology, computer programming and economics. As a result of participating in PSO, some students have completed a semester or more of college by the time they have graduated from high school.

Take Kara Harrington. A Westside senior, Harrington will have accumulated 21 Macon State credit hours when she graduates this spring. A "regular" college student taking a full course load during a semester earns at least 12 credit hours.

"It's been great," said Harrington, 17, who intends to enroll at Shorter College this fall. "I plan to major in vocal performance, so when I start college I'll be able to begin the music classes right away since I'll have already finished most of my core courses."

Jason Lo, a Houston County High School senior who took a Macon State computer programming class, won't have a semester's worth of college credit when he graduates, but he still believes he's gotten a great headstart through PSO.

"I knew I wanted to go into the field of computers, so I thought this might be a good class to prepare me for college," said Lo, 17, who hopes to attend either Georgia Tech or Mercer University. "I like the atmosphere of the class. We have a (more adult) relationship with the teacher and that makes things more relaxed."

Macon State faculty members who teach in the PSO program say they enjoy the experience because the students are bright and generally eager to learn.

"It's a challenge, something different," said Dr. Susan Durr, a psychology instructor who taught a class at Westside this spring. "My Westside students provide a good balance for the perspectives expressed by my students on the (Macon State) campus."

Tracey Jensen, an assistant professor of IT at Macon State, taught computer programming at Houston County High this spring.

"I enjoy the students," she said. "They have a great deal of energy and enthusiasm for the topic. I think the idea of the PSO program is great and would have loved to have the same opportunity when I was their age."

Different setting

Both Durr and Jensen said they hold the PSO participants to the same academic standards as "regular" Macon State freshmen - and it shows.

"We're treated like college students," said April Phillips, a Houston County High School junior who took Jensen's class and plans to go to the University of Georgia. "The teacher doesn't breathe down our necks. It's up to us to do well in the class, just like it is in college."

Cole Brantley, 18, a Westside senior who also plans to attend UGA, said because the PSO classes met two or three times a week, as opposed to daily for regular high school courses, he got an idea of the self-discipline required to keep up with college work. "I like meeting three days a week instead of the usual five days a week," he said. "It's just a completely different academic setting."

The general requirements for students to participate in PSO at Macon State are that they be juniors or seniors in the college prep track. They should have an overall B average in their high school courses and score at least 970 on the SAT or 21 on the ACT. Students also need recommendations from their high school principals and their parents or guardians.

Courses successfully completed under the PSO program will transfer to any public college or university in Georgia, as well as to most other public and private institutions throughout the nation.

Minter said that besides meeting academic qualifications, high school juniors and seniors who participate in the Postsecondary Options program should be dedicated, disciplined students who would enjoy the challenge of college coursework.