A shot at a diploma and college credits

RALEIGH -- Pablo Soto wants to be the first person in his family to go to college.

Pablo's college ambitions are financially daunting for someone whose father works as a laborer and whose mom stays home to raise his younger siblings. But a unique program that will give him a chance to graduate in five years with a high school diploma and a two-year college associate's degree -- free -- is keeping his dreams alive.

"I want to stand for more than what my parents do," said Pablo, a 14-year-old freshman at the new Wake Early College of Health and Sciences in Raleigh. "I want to go to college. I think this school will help me reach my goals."

Pablo is the kind of student being targeted for early college high school programs, which are designed to steer students toward college who might not normally attend.

"This is the American dream school," said Jim Palermo, principal of the Wake Early College. "Education is the ticket to the middle class."

About one-third of the students at the school come from families in which the parents did not attend college, Palermo said. That figure increases to 65 percent at the J.D. Clement Early College High School in Durham, said principal Nicholas King.

The Durham and Wake schools are two of 33 early colleges in North Carolina. The state hopes to open 75 early colleges by 2008, part of a national movement to see 280 such schools throughout the country by 2010. Part of the money for those efforts will come from groups such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

With some variations, the early colleges allow students to graduate from high school in four or five years with a diploma and college credits. Graduates typically earn enough credits to get an associate's degree, be able to enter a four-year college as a junior, or both.

When the Wake Early College opened in August, it had no problem finding applicants. Palermo said it turned down people to keep enrollment at 95 students. It opened with only freshmen and will eventually enroll 400 students.

"You can't beat two years of free college," said Samiydah Kearney, 15, a Wake Early College student.

Students were also attracted to the opportunities created by a partnership of the Wake County school system, Wake Technical Community College and WakeMed. WakeMed employees, for example, will mentor students, and the students will have the chance to work at hospital internships that could lead to health careers. The school is on Wake Tech's campus next to WakeMed.

Students will be able to earn an associate's degrees and certification in areas such as emergency medical technician and dental hygienist, where they can start work immediately after graduation.

"We'd love to have some of the students as employees one day," said Susan Jackson, WakeMed's chief learning officer. "But as long they're working and can afford good health-care coverage, it's a win-win for the community."

Students won't get associate's degrees when they graduate from the Clement Early College in Durham because their partner school, N.C. Central University, doesn't offer them. But by being on NCCU's campus, the school hopes to motivate some students to stay after graduation and apply their credits toward a four-year college degree.

"[Students] think of it as their school," said King, Clement's principal. "I hope many of them will stay here as undergraduates."

Despite the praises of supporters, early colleges have encountered opposition in some school districts. Locally, both the Chatham and Johnston County school systems decided not to go ahead with the programs.

Donna White, a Johnston County school board member, said her district was concerned about the cost of transporting students from throughout the district to Johnston Community College. Like some districts, Johnston does operate a middle college program in which students take classes on college campuses. But middle colleges serve high school juniors and seniors, so transportation usually isn't provided.

White said the board also worried about how high school freshmen might react to being on a college campus when so many have trouble just making the transition from middle school.

King said the school controls access for freshmen on the NCCU campus and students there don't attend classes with college students until they are juniors.

Palermo acknowledged that there has been some friction between the high school teens and the community college students, whose average age is 31. Some Wake Tech students, for example, have complained about boisterous high schoolers who take up lunch seats in the student lounge.

Andrea Martinez, 14, a Wake Early College student, said some Wake Tech students have complained to her about not having the same opportunities when they were in high school. But overall, this is an experience she is not willing to give up.

"It was such a great opportunity that I knew I would have regretted it if I hadn't come here," she said.