Sophomore Melanie Estrada is enjoying what could be her last year in a Northwest High classroom. Next year, she’ll journey to Metropolitan Community College (MCC) as part of the Early College Program.
“I’ll still come back to Northwest High every day for soccer and wrestling,” said Estrada. “I’m nervous but excited, especially because we’re the first to try this out.”
In the 2023-24 school year, Northwest High and MCC partnered for our district's first Early College Program. The program allows students to earn an associate’s degree before graduating high school.
During the program's first two years, students attend classes at Northwest High. As juniors, they’ll spend the entire day on MCC’s campus.
“It’s cool that I’ll be getting a degree before I even graduate,” said Estrada. “Not a lot of people can say that.”
Early College is open to all Omaha Public Schools students entering ninth grade at Northwest High. Estrada’s classmate, Gabriella Hopwood, says it helps that the program is offered at no cost to families.
“It’s a good opportunity because it gives us more experience in college, and it saves money,” said Hopwood.
Omaha Public Schools offers countless Advanced Academics classes to students, from dual credit to the International Baccalaureate and Cambridge Programs and Advanced Placement (AP). Dual credit and AP classes are offered at every high school in our district.
“It’s important for us to have options for our kids because they all have different interests and different strength areas,” said Beth Maloney, Ed.D., Omaha Public Schools teaching and learning consultant. “We want them to leave Omaha Public Schools and go on to do whatever it is that they want to do.”
AP classes allow students to earn college-level credit while taking specific courses in their school. After each course, students take a test to earn college credit. In the 2022-23 school year, more than 4,500 students enrolled in advanced placement courses. Omaha Public Schools students earned more than 22,000 college credits while in high school during the 2023-24 school year.
Bryan High senior Alexandria Sampson will have taken six AP courses by the time she graduates. Currently, she’s taking AP physics and computer science. She plans to pursue a computer engineering degree in college.
“My AP classes are generally very challenging, but I feel more engaged,” said Sampson. “The diversification of these classes will give me more opportunities in college.”
Dario Gudino-Garcia teaches AP calculus, AP pre-calculus and AP computer science at Bryan High. He designs his tests throughout the year to resemble the AP exams students take at the end of the year.
“They start getting used to the format and the types of questions they’re going to see on that final exam,” said Gudino-Garcia. “Sometimes that’s the hard part, so practicing those skills throughout the year will be useful.”
Over the summer, Omaha Public Schools hosted an Advanced Academics Summer Symposium for students to learn more about advanced academics in our district. For more information about opportunities at each school, visit our website or contact your school.
Oct. 2024
