In the 2020-2021 school year, the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District, through River City Academy, launched a middle college pilot program. The Kenai Peninsula Middle College School is a partnership between the district and Kenai Peninsula College, which aims to create a bridge between high school and college by providing eligible students the opportunity to exceed their high school academics through classes at KPC.
KPBSD Superintendent Clayton Holland:
“Actually, we started that last year but, I think with everything going on with COVID, it wasn’t well known and this year, it’s the second year. We have, I believe, 35 students right now as part of that program. Students, actually, when they join that are joining with River City Academy. Principal Dawn Edwards-Smith is the principal for both campuses. So, we have students who, right now from across the Central Peninsula, join and then can participate in the Middle College. They actually go to the KPC Campus, or they can do some of it online as well, but they go there and enroll in college courses and then they also get the support of the district as well. So, RCA, Dawn Edwards-Smith and a counselor provides support to those students. This is more controlled and with a lot more support from the district giving kids more of an intro into that college experience.”
Holland also said:
“One thing we’re looking to do in the near future is see how we can expand that and make it available to students anywhere. How do we get a student from Tyonek to access a class. How do we provide maybe even smaller two-week intensives where kids come in from somewhere and stay at the KPC dorms and take courses? Really looking to see how we can expand that and make it something that’s available to students across the district and possibly its own school in the future, but a lot of work is left to do on that part of it.”
Twenty-one students from River City Academy, Soldotna High School, Kenai Central High School, and Nikolaevsk School joined the pilot in 2020, and earned more than 200 college credits.
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