Twenty graduate in dual enrollment

Palm Coast Observer
Neighbors

Between Matanzas and Flagler Palm Coast high schools, 20 students graduated this year with two degrees — a diploma and an Associate of Arts. One student is Bianca Matthews, who will attend the University of Florida.

In August, Matanzas High School graduate Bianca Matthews will start her college career as an 18-year-old junior at the University of Florida.

One of 20 dual-enrollment grads in the county, she took three or four Daytona State College classes each semester of her last two years of high school, came out with an Associate of Arts degree and — the best part — paid a total of zero dollars for it.

According to Chris Pryor, Matanzas High School principal, a record 20 students graduated this year through the state-mandated program — 11 from Matanzas and nine from Flagler Palm Coast. The school doesn’t push dual-enrollment, he said, but more and more families are starting to figure out its perks.

The way it works: Students enroll into DSC courses, which they take in lieu of high school courses but which earn them both college and high school credit. The district pays for their tuition and text books.
In return, high schools have fewer students in the classroom and DSC receives more state dollars, which is based on enrollment numbers.

Matthews and her mother, Jacqueline Rogelio, estimate that the program saved their household about $40,000 in secondary-ed costs.

With the academic challenge came adjustments as she made the switch from high school to undergrad.

Although she was used to change — she attended Heritage High, then was homeschooled, then switched to Matanzas — everything was different at DSC, from the the way students interacted to the way teachers taught.

There wasn’t any more “drama,” she said. “It’s complete opposites.”

Matthews, who has lived in Palm Coast since 2004, plans to major in Chinese and join the ROTC at the University of Florida. She wants to become an Air Force linguist after graduation. Like anyone with an associate degree, she was guaranteed admission into a Florida state school after graduating in dual-enrollment.

Looking back, she admits she had a tough time in one of her first college literature courses. But she believes it was a learning experience.

“Sometimes you have to look beyond,” she said.

DUAL-ENROLLMENT GRADS
A total of 20 Flagler County students graduated in the dual-enrollment program, with a high school degree as well as an Associate of Arts from Daytona State College. Here are the graduates:

Flagler Palm Coast
Arelys Nieves
Brandilyn S. Johnson
Caitlin E. Hannan
Chelsea C. Gallagher
Hallie A. Hydrick
Mariya I. Cheban
Reuben A. Colon
Ryan D. Wacker
Ryan W. Warner

Matanzas High School
Alexandrea Savoca
Alexandria Perkins
Bianca R. Matthews
Donya R. Alkhatib
Hanna Lipsey
Jasminne Myles
Julia T. D’Angelo
Ksenia A. Leyvi
Marielena Dias
Michael Nahirny
Neal R. Shepherd