Early college program graduates first North Daviess class

DAVIESS CO., Ind. (WTHI) - Fourteen graduating seniors from North Daviess High School participated in the 2012 commencement ceremony at Oakland City University (OCU).  These students, along with three of their classmates not in attendance, all received their Associate of Arts degree in General Studies from OCU. 

As part of the Early College Program, these students completed 64 hours of college coursework while in high school in order to earn the Associate’s degree upon high school graduation.  The North Daviess Class of 2012 is the first at North Daviess to be able to accomplish this achievement.  This group represents 27% of their class and includes two students that paid nothing as they were on free/reduced lunch and Oakland City waived the tuition fees and five students that are first-generation post-secondary attendees.

North Daviess High School students and staff have accepted the challenge of increasing the number of adults in our community to obtain an associate’s or bachelor’s degree.  The most recent numbers report only 20% of adults age 25 and up in Daviess county have an associate’s degree and less than 10% have a bachelor’s degree.  North Daviess partnered with Oakland City University to address this in Daviess County and to provide an opportunity for our students to get a jump start on post-secondary education utilizing the concepts and pedagogy being implemented in our 21 ^st Century High School. The cost saving to our community has been astounding.

This year North Daviess students completed 644 dual credit classes for 1,917 college credits.  The current North Daviess High School students have taken 1,226 dual credit classes for 3,576 college credits.  The graduating class has taken 624 dual-credit classes over their high school career for 1,764 college credits.  This year alone the seniors took 225 classes for 651 college credits.

This partnership has had a significant financial impact on our community with the cost-savings.  The current senior class has an estimated cost saving of more than $302,000 in comparison to taking those classes on campus at the University of Southern Indiana.

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Pictured are graduates (front row, left to right) Arik Carpenter, Bailee Fisher, Darrah Holder, and Lorissa Miller; (middle row) Josh Milligan, Tiffany Bell, Ashlee Boyd, Conner Wikle, and Julie Wagler; and (back row) Marcus Slaven, Lewis Nugent, John Rumble, Nikki Bechtel, and Marissa Richey.  Alexandra Meyer, Jessie Webster, and Erin Winklepleck were not in attendance.