Test program offers college in comfort zone

By LINDSAY VanHULLE
lvanhulle@record-eagle.com

October 01, 2008 12:00 am

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SUTTONS BAY -- Her students circled around her, watching as she pointed to a large plastic heart. The anatomical version, of course. Not the valentine.

Tanja Molby pressed her fingertips together and pumped them back and forth as if they were a functioning valve. She waited to see if any of her college biology students would know what she was mimicking.

One did. Molby grinned.

"There you go," she said. "Right on. Very, very good."

Molby's students hadn't yet learned about the heart, nor about the larger circulatory system of which it is the centerpiece. But she knew they were interested, from the way they watched her hold the model to the way they chattered when looking at maps of national obesity trends.

"College is not that scary," she said, smiling.

In most respects, Molby's students aren't typical of their peers at Northwestern Michigan College. For one thing, their classes aren't held on the main campus. For another, they're still in high school.

Suttons Bay High School this year began a test program with NMC to offer dual-enrollment courses at home, citing rising gasoline costs and lost class hours commuting to and from Traverse City as major factors.

If it works, administrators say, Suttons Bay could become a central site for other Leelanau County students interested in dual-enrollment, and test programs could be launched in other local communities.

"We already knew that we had the interest," Principal Raph Rittenhouse said. "It was a need that had been unmet."

Nearby districts Northport and Glen Lake this year have just one dual-enrolled student each, according to NMC registration data.

Last year, Rittenhouse said, Suttons Bay had no participating students. There are 20 this year.

Students this semester can choose from biology and English, both standard introductory courses. Next semester, plans are to offer a second English course and chemistry.

The high school covers tuition for any student who wants to enroll.

"I did it to just prepare me for these kinds of classes in college," said senior Shawn Gauden, 17, a student in Molby's class. "It's a smaller group and you get more one-on-one time."

He likely wouldn't have signed up if he didn't have the chance at his home school. He lives too far away.

"If I lived closer, I probably would," Shawn said. "It's one thing you think about."

Whether or not it expands to other regional districts -- some, like Mesick, are 30 miles away -- depends in large part on student counts and administrators' willingness, said Stephen Siciliano, NMC's vice president for educational services.

Students and teachers both say they hope it lasts.

"They're getting the same opportunity without spending a drop of gasoline," communication professor Mark Howell said. "It's just easier for everybody."

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