Todd Bunnell calmly paced in front of his class last week in a windowless room.
He asked students to begin brainstorming writing ideas. They could chose from a variety of approaches. There’s clustering, where one creates a spider-web of thoughts; doodling, a mixture of words and sketches to express ideas; mapping, in which a student takes an idea and maps out the thoughts that get them to their point; and more.
Bunnell was speaking to the Columbus High School students as if they are adults.
In a way, they are.
Bunnell is an English professor at the Mississippi University for Women. Twice a week he comes to Columbus High to teach an English composition class that is identical to a 1000-level college English course.
The students in the class are among the 94 Columbus High students taking dual enrollment courses via MUW and East Mississippi Community College this fall. Eighty-four of those students are taking six or more hours. Participation in dual enrollment at Columbus High is up 38 percent this year from 68 students who took courses through EMCC last school year.
Lowndes County School District has 79 students in dual enrollment — four at West Lowndes High School, 60 at New Hope High School, and 15 at Caledonia High School — all through EMCC.
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Bunnell told The Dispatch he might adjust his teaching approach a little for high school students, but he has been impressed with his Columbus High students.
“Obviously, the students might be a little younger in age (than college freshman), but their skill levels are about the same or even better than kids I teach in college,” Bunnell said.
The Columbus Municipal School District has offered dual enrollment with EMCC previously, but this year an agreement was reached with MUW to allow students to take classes on campus and to send MUW professors like Bunnell to Columbus High.
CMSD assistant superintendent Pamela Lenoir said the district had been in contact with MUW last year, but had been unable to reach a final agreement. This year, she said, the district made a conscientious effort to get their students access to MUW classes at CHS and the W’s campus.
Dr. Thomas Richardson, vice president of academic affairs at MUW, said that new CHS principal Undray Scott and superintendent Dr. Philip Hickman made a large push for the program to come together and be heavily promoted this year. The W has long done dual enrollment with the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science located on their campus; now the service is extending to CHS and Heritage Academy, Richardson said.
“The whole concept is really good one for the students of Mississippi,” he said. “It is important to allow students to get easy access to college.”
The W is hoping dual enrollment will also allow local students to see what their hometown university has to offer.
Students who want to be in dual enrollment need to take the ACT and have good grades. EMCC requires students have a 2.5 grade point average. MUW requires a 3.0 GPA for dual enrollment students. Both the college and the university require students take the ACT and score at least a 16 on the English portion or a 17 on the math portion to take college algebra.
The students take most of their EMCC classes online. English composition, the class MUW Professor Bunnell leads, is taught at Columbus High. One of his students, junior Jaylan Lenoir, also boards a bus twice a week to take college algebra on MUW’s campus. He has a MUW student ID card in his wallet. He said he wants to study chemical engineering at Mississippi State University when he graduates.
“I just love that we get to go to (MUW’s) campus for some of the classes,” Jaylan Lenoir said.
It’s not just English and math. Columbus students are taking courses online via EMCC in economics, psychology, oral communications, zoology, biology and art appreciation.
Not only are the courses diverse, but the students taking them are, too.
“We have children who are participating who are athletes, band students — they are well-rounded students,” Lenoir said. “It’s not just kids who are not considered with the typical high school routine. Many of these students are involved in typical high school type of things in addition to taking these courses.”
Lenoir said the district made extra efforts this summer to promote dual enrollment. She said they eye talented students and tell them about the program. It’s a way to challenge them academically, and save money for families who will be paying for college in the near future.
The district handles the cost of the college credits. CMSD budgeted $13,500 to pay for college courses for students this school year. Hickman said the district may have to transfer more money into that fund next semester because so many kids have signed up, which he called a good problem.
“We’re preparing our kids to be college successful,” Hickman said. “They’re already going to have that shock out, they’re already going to have that confidence of taking college classes, so when they go in there won’t be shocked — they’ll be ready to finish college.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 44 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
