High school students click with Honors Online classes

High school students now earn college credit from Lake Superior College without ever leaving the high school campus, thanks to an innovative approach to Post-Secondary Enrollment Options program called "Honors Online."

The program provides college-level courses to eligible students through special arrangements with the students' high school, using computer labs for the classes. In addition to the convenience of learning online, high school students earn tuition-free college credits for the Honors Online classes that apply to their college transcript.

"We've found that the arrangement is especially appealing to rural schools because the students are able to take the courses without leaving their home high school for long periods of time during the school day," says Candace Barnack, the college's vice president of academic affairs. "That means that the students don't have to spend time traveling to a college campus and can continue to participate in high school activities such as sports, theater and music programs."

Lake Superior College's Virtual Campus is the leader in providing online for-credit college classes in Minnesota. A qualified high school student can chose from the more than 133 online classes. More than 200 high school students currently are enrolled in the Honors Online program.

"Students love this program - we have seen a tremendous up tick in enrollment in the last two years," said Marie Brooks, the college's High School Connections faculty liaison. "Since teenagers grew up with computers, learning online is a comfortable environment for them."

Wrenshall High School, a K-12 school with 372 students, has participated in Honors Online for five years. The school provides computers and space in its Media Center for students to work.

Wrenshall High School Honors Online students, left to right, Andrea Johnson, Kathryn Sadler, Jacqueline Berglund, Blake Austin and Justin Lane, are earning college credits without leaving their high school building.

Counselor Jamie Savre likes the flexibility of the program. "I can work with students to fit courses in where it works for their schedule," Savre said. "The online program also allows us to offer classes that we don't have here while keeping the kids in the building."

Students of all abilities take online classes, Savre said. "Some of our students that participate are career-driven; they might want to go into nursing. Other students just want to get freshman comp out of the way."

Wrenshall junior Andrea Johnson, who is enrolled in Composition II, said she likes to manage her own time. "You can really waste a lot of time in a classroom, dealing with things like taking attendance or discipline problems," Johnson said. "Online, I can work when I want and mix with people from all walks of life, like stay-at-home moms who are also working on their college degree. This makes the class more interesting."

Parents like it, too, because it eliminates the need to travel to a college campus.

"Many parents are concerned about their children traveling long distances to attend classes, especially in the winter," Brooks said. Lake Superior College was the first community and technical college in the system to offer a formal online program to high schools when Honors Online was started five years ago. The college has agreements with more than 20 high schools for the program.

"We have high schools as far west as Cass Lake, east to Grand Marais, and north to Ely participating in our Honors Online program," said Brooks. "Distance is not an issue."