Goodbye, Nittany Lions: Penn State classes no longer available at CHS
More stories from Dyamond Jones
A course selection booklet sits with a Penn State pennant. Penn State classes will no longer be offered at Carlisle High School after this school year.
Course selection time is here, but this year, the thick, bright, pink book of courses excluded some familiar, popular options.
As of the 2018-2019 school year, the Penn State Mont Alto courses will no longer be available to CHS students. The decision to end the relationship with the university was not a choice made by CHS.
“Penn State University has chosen to discontinue offering the dual enrollment courses with CHS and other area high schools,” said CHS upperclassman counselor Amy Knapp. “The administrators from Penn State indicated that the endeavor had not been profitable for them and did not lead to students matriculating at Penn State Mont Alto, which was their original goal.”
Over the last few years, the dual enrollment program has allowed students to take multiple college-level courses for a fraction of the price.
“Penn State courses provided valuable insights about many societal perspectives I otherwise would not have considered,”Annelise De Young, a CHS junior who took a PSU course this year, said. “The teacher I had seemed to have a lot of passion about psychology and sociology. [However,] the class structure was a little boring and could have been spiced up to add variety.”
This unforeseen change may have put a hindrance on many students’ future plans. Although the Penn State classes are no longer able to students, there are still many opportunities that students can take in order to get a head start in their college careers.
Students like Senior Kendra Fisher have completed their dual enrollment courses at other institutions.
“I chose to participate in the dual enrollment program through [Shippensburg University] because it allowed me to fulfill my high school requirements while getting college credit at the same time,” said Fisher. “This program gave me a real college experience because I was taking classes on Shippensburg’s campus with actual college students.”
Another dual enrollment programs currently available to upperclassmen through a partnership with Dickson College and HACC. Students interested in dual enrollment programs from any college should discuss options with their school counselor.
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Dyamond Jones is currently a senior at Carlisle High School. She is a member of National Honors Society and National English Honors Society. She loves...
Ava Wendelken • Mar 18, 2019 at 1:38 pm
This really surprised me to hear, and I have very mixed feelings about it. On one hand, the opportunity to get college credit will be sorely missed — while we do have AP classes and other dual enrollment programs, the PSU Mont Alto courses were an especially straightforward way to get some classes done. However, as a former PSU class-taker myself, I echo Annalise’s statement. The courses weren’t great, and though I’m grateful for the credit, I didn’t learn much from them. I also don’t think the classes are genuinely reflective of what it’s like to take college classes.
Maddie Couto • Mar 18, 2019 at 9:33 am
Wow! I am very surprised to hear that Penn State ended thier partnership with CHS. I have never personally taken Penn State classes, but I have many friends who have taken them to get ahead on college credit. They all seem to like the classes as well as the later start to the day that Penn State classes gives them. If I could go back to when I first chose courses to take at CHS, I would have enrolled in Penn State classes because it seems like a great program. Although I am a senior who will not be returning next year, I am sad to see that this option will no longer be available to CHS students looking to get ahead in college classes.