By Kathryn Reed

By the time students in the class of 2019 graduate from South Tahoe High School they may have earned 9½ units from Lake Tahoe Community College.

Even more are possible, and it’s not just freshmen who are eligible.

The first block is available through the Get Focused, Stay Focused program that was introduced this year. It is a program designed to get students to think about their lives for the next 10 years. At each grade level it will be revised.

Three main questions are addressed:

·      Who am I? – This is supposed to become a personal mission statement.

·      What do I want in life? – Work, family, and standard of living are addressed.

·      How do I get there? – Education, training and income level are part of the answer.

“It’s about self-discovery and making it happen,” Virginia Berry, LTCC dean of Career Tech Education, said.

She was part of group that gave the college and Lake Tahoe Unified School District boards an update on the program as well as what is going on with the broader dual-enrollment initiative. The two boards had a joint meeting on March 22.

Lake Tahoe Community College and Lake Tahoe Unified School District boards meet March 22. Photo/LTN

The Get Focused, Stay Focused program is expanding to adult education, foster youth, and tribal education in Douglas County.

“It’s highly researched based. When they finish they have an education plan online,” Bob Grant with LTUSD said. “Counselors can look at it and direct students toward certain classes.”

The first dual enrollment class being offered outside of Get Focused, Stay Focused is in the digital media arts sector.

Dual enrollment means STHS students are getting LTCC credit for a class they take at the high school. It means the curriculum at the high school is equivalent to the college’s, and that LTCC students may take a similar class at their school.

The goal is to expand the dual enrollment offerings into culinary arts, sports medicine and dental hygiene. These are all disciplines both institutions currently offer.

The benefit to students is they will enter college with credits and therefore likely to be able to take more advanced classes from the get-go and then they can possibly graduate in four years. It also allows LTCC to count these students as though they were on campus, which helps the college to get state funding.

While dual enrollment is available where applicable to all STHS students, not all take advantage of the opportunity. In large part this has to do with LTCC having to ask residency questions and LTUSD does not.

“I’m impressed with the dual enrollment. It’s doing the right thing for the kids,” Barbara Bannar, LTUSD board president, said.