In February, Mount Everett held an assembly to celebrate the young people who served as the test subjects of an ambitious new effort to furnish Southern Berkshire County students with college credits for free as a part of their public education. WAMC was there.
The program was carried out in partnership with nearby Bard College at Simon’s Rock in Great Barrington.
“We've been a leader in early college nationwide at Simon's Rock for many years, but we hadn't really done a lot for the local area, or a lot of collaborations with the schools here," said Provost and Vice President John Weinstein. "There have been things here and there over the years, but we really wanted something that was more intentional, that really connected, and when the state launched this Massachusetts Early College Initiative, it certainly made perfect sense for the founding site of early college to have involvement within it.”
Weinstein was on hand for the festivities.
“Students should have every possibility open to them," he told WAMC. "We're not saying that every student should do one thing or another on any path. But students should have an experiential way to determine what it is that they want to do. I'm a longtime resident of South County, and I know that sometimes the sense of, college is something that's for somebody else, can often pervade. And it might not be for you, but you can, you should make that decision. So, we're really trying to offer every student the opportunity to have authentic college courses, the convenience in their own high school building to see if they're interested in college based on what college learning is."
Removing the price tag from college credits is also part of the plan.
“We removed the economic obstacle, because the students and families aren't having to pay anything for these courses," he said. "We're removing the structural obstacle, because it can start right here in the school building.”
Weinstein says that the classes aren’t like advanced placement courses, which teach to a test.
“It's harder for students to have individualized responses, individualized answers, because you're going toward a common assessment," he explained. "What really we're trying to do often is encouraging teachers to come up with questions where every student could come up with a totally different answer, that would all be right and wonderful in different ways.”
To achieve the full-scale implementation of the early college courses, Mount Everett rolled the dice and chose to fully immerse its student body of around 300 directly into the experience with little preparation.
“It was a surprise because we all signed up for like regular English, and then they told us at the beginning of the year, we're taking a college class," said Noah Williams,17. "So, it was definitely a surprise.”
“I mean, it was very surprising at first," said Jordi Peck. "Like, we were kind of overwhelmed at first, but as time progressed, I mean, it was cool class.”
Peck, 18, says the discussion-based format of the early college English course was unlike any he’d ever taken before.
“It was on our hands to carry the lesson," he told WAMC. "I mean, it wasn't all the teacher talking. It was just like the students in the actual classroom that was carrying the discussions carrying the weight and like, dictating how the class went.”
“It really challenges you to think intellectually, I feel like," said Williams. "There's a lot of questions that really don't have answers. So, we were just discussing the whole class, which I really liked. We didn’t read a lot of books, we just read packets and discussed it, which is like more my thing, just open discussions and seeing what other people's opinions are.”
Peck said that there’s no question it was harder than his previous English classes, but recommended it nonetheless.
“Even if you're not going to college, you're still going to have to learn how to have discussion-based learning, I mean, in jobs in the real world and in any sort of living, you need to know how to talk to people and answer questions and know how to do critical thinking,” he said.
Both Williams and Peck intend to go on to college. Williams says the class will resonate as he moves ahead with his education.
“I think one big takeaway was there really is no wrong answer," he told WAMC. "Mr. Walton really emphasized that, which I liked, because I wasn't afraid to answer. So, if you have a question, there's no stupid answer. I just feel like you need to go in and discuss, even if you think you're wrong, so don't be afraid to answer. There's no stupid questions. I recommend it, because a lot of people lack intellectual discussions, so I feel like it'd be really good if everyone took this class, just for the real world.”
Another Mount Everett early college course was about film. Victoria Breen, 17, didn’t know she’d be studying the cinematic arts until the last moment.
“It was definitely shocking," she told WAMC. "It was the first day of school and I was supposed to be my anatomy class, and then I was told that I had two periods during one- I had two classes during one period. So, that was a little bit difficult. But I thought that the class was going to be really interesting. So, I thought like, it was worth it.”
One of the best surprises was about who was teaching the course.
“We thought he was just a professor," said Breen. "But he turns out to be like a director and a movie producer and stuff. And he makes his own films, and we had no idea. So that was really cool to get the opportunity to work with someone who's actually like, very familiar with the topic.”
Dien Vo is a professor at Simon’s Rock and an independent filmmaker.
“We did a little bit of a hybrid course where we taught students how to appreciate films, just understand kind of the language of cinema," Vo told WAMC. "And that culminated in having the students attempt to make a short film of their own.”
He attended the ceremony to cheer the early college program participants he’d worked with.
“I found these students refreshing the open and perhaps just candid and really warm," said Vo. "It was a lovely experience.”
“Oh yeah, we made a film," laughed one of the students, Cassie Campeglio. “For like our final project, we decided that we wanted to do a film. So, we just kind of brainstormed for a few weeks, and then we put a film together.”
Vo described it as a suspenseful thriller.
“It's about two women who are romantically involved," he said. "They become part of a crime and kind of relations get strained and intense as a result.”
Campeglio offered her assessment of the filmmaking experience.
“It's kind of stressful at times," she told WAMC. "But once we got the hang of it, it got a little bit easier. And even though it was like, it was kind of short, we still like I still appreciated it because of like, all the hard work that we put into it.”
Both students plan on attending college, and agree that the challenge was well worth it — not just educationally.
“Financially, it's really a smart decision to make because you're getting these college classes for free in high school, where you'd have to pay for them if you when you go to college," said Breen. "So it’s definitely something you should take advantage of.”
“At first, I didn't know that like, there was going to be like taking money off," said Campeglio. "Now I'm kind of like, wow, like, that's something that I don't have to like worry about in college now.”
Dylan Stevens, 18, is a Mount Everett student who doesn’t plan on going to college. He’s got his sights set on working at a car dealership right in Sheffield.
“I am hoping to go into an automotive repair career full time at Watson's," he told WAMC. "I have an internship. I've always liked just working on cars, seeing how they work. I grew up around them, and I just want to pursue it.”
Stevens was surprised to find himself enrolled in an early college course, but says he left with a broader sense of himself and how to express his thinking.
“Overall, I mean, it definitely helped with, like, writing and whatnot," he said. "It just helped me improve. And with testing, I mean, I'm not a great tester to begin with. So, this just helped me kind of expand my thoughts.”
Even if he doesn’t cash in on the college credits now, Stevens says it’s good to have them in his back pocket.
“It could have value if I decide I don't want to go into automotive and I want to go back and take some college courses, like, go to [Berkshire Community College] for example," he said. "It will definitely help.”
Whether he ends up in college or not, Stevens says he’s already feeling the impact of taking advanced coursework during his high school experience.
“It was definitely a challenge, especially for me, because I went in not being a good writer, and not very great at writing essays," he told WAMC. "And at the end of the class, I felt a lot better. I felt confident in my writing.”
