Malaspina enrichment program opens university courses to secondary students

Three Kwalikum Senior Secondary students may finish high school with university credits, thanks to a recently-expanded Malaspina University-College program that allows students to take first-year university courses while still in Grade 12.

“It’s a jump-start,” said student Meagan Gwilt, 17, who will be taking English 115 at the Parksville-Qualicum Centre this fall. Joining her in the College Composition English class will be Courtney Hollingworth, while Lacey Smallenberg will be studying Psychology 111, Contemporary Psychology I.

Both courses are worth three university credits and are offered for three hours every Tuesday or Thursday evening at the Parksville-Qualicum Centre. In order to take the university courses, the students had to demonstrate academic excellence, an aptitude for higher education and an interested in advanced studies.

For Gwilt, taking courses beyond her grade level is not new. She began taking advanced courses at high school in Grade 9 and has already completed Biology 12 and English 12. She fits the advanced courses into her schedule by not taking electives, since she earns extra fine arts credits as a Royal Conservatory piano student.

Her post-secondary plans include visiting <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Europe and then enrolling at UBC in the fall of 2008.

“It’ll be fun,” said Gwilt, anticipating the early start to her university career.

The secondary school enrichment program has been offered to Nanaimo students for the past five years. This year it was expanded to Parksville-Qualicum students through the collaborative efforts of Sean McKierahan, Assistant Superintendent of Schools for District 69, and Dennis Silvestrone, Dean of Adult and Continuing Education, at Malaspina University-College.

The two courses are among four university-level courses which will be offered at the Parksville-Qualicum Centre this year.

During the spring session, English 116, Introduction to Literature, will be offered Tuesday evenings, and Psychology 112, Contemporary Psychology, will be offered on Thursday evenings.

Opening these courses to secondary school students is another example of the educational opportunities provided to the community by Malaspina’s Parksville-Qualicum Centre, said site manager Bob Katzko.

“Whenever we can broaden the scope of our educational opportunities to our community, I believe we are successful,” Katzko said.

“I’m confident having these Kwalikum Secondary students at our Centre will benefit our other students.”

These university courses are also open to adults who may want to start a university degree or advance their understanding of psychology, delve into English literature, or improve their writing skills.

A few seats remain in each of the courses. For more information call the Centre at 250-248-2096 or visit the web site at http://www.viu.ca/parksville/.