{"id":114,"date":"2016-05-03T15:00:38","date_gmt":"2016-05-03T15:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stories.kera.org\/class-of-17\/?p=114"},"modified":"2017-05-26T19:10:22","modified_gmt":"2017-05-26T19:10:22","slug":"juggling-college-and-high-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/class-of-17\/2016\/05\/03\/juggling-college-and-high-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Juggling College Classes In High School Takes Grit"},"content":{"rendered":"

The \u00a0Class of ’17 \u2014\u00a0a group of students from across North Texas that KERA started following when they were in\u00a0eighth\u00a0grade \u2014 are now high school juniors. And it’s crunch time \u2014 they’re starting to make\u00a0decisions about what will come after graduation. For Joel Luera, an 11th grader who\u2019s already\u00a0started college, the decision to get ahead came early.<\/em><\/p>\n

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There\u2019s no question Joel Luera is a standout. He\u2019s ranked No. 4 in his class at W.W. Samuell High School in Dallas. He\u2019s a champion debater. And he takes classes on a college campus.<\/p>\n

But this school year hasn\u2019t been easy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been different,” he said. “One thing they kind of don\u2019t tell you when you go to, I guess [a school] like here, is you still got to go through all the high school stuff. Like, you know, the quote-unquote ‘discovering yourself’ and all that.”<\/p>\n

Joel spends his days at Eastfield College, a community college in Mesquite with 14,000 students. He\u2019s one of more than 200 juniors and seniors there from Samuell’s early college program<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Joel

Joel Luera, right, and Steve Vasquez, left, study for a biology test at Eastfield College in Mesquite. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/p><\/div>\n

Like many college kids, Joel\u2019s got a heavy schedule. Last semester, he took 20 credit hours. This semester, it’s 18 hours.<\/p>\n

Last fall, some personal stuff got in the way.<\/p>\n

Joel, who just turned 17, had a girl problem. That kind of derailed him.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt wasn\u2019t a very good time for me because I had a lot of negativity,” he said. “I don\u2019t get anxious, but I think of things a lot and try to think of all the outcomes and stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joel ended up with a D in speech and Cs in algebra and English. He aced U.S. History and Spanish and earned\u00a0a B in biology.<\/p>\n

Like any good debater, Joel has developed critical thinking skills. So he analyzed the problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was the lack of prioritization,” he said. “Teenagers aren\u2019t very good at prioritizing \u2014 at all. I look back on it \u2013 there\u2019s these things that I thought were like the end of the world for me, and they weren\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Joel

Joel Luera, center, a junior, jokes around with seniors while waiting for his bus home at Eastfield College. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been just above and beyond dedicated to everything that he does.”
Caitlin Beauford, early college program coordinator, about Joel Luera<\/div>
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EARLY COLLEGE STUDENTS NEED DISCIPLINE<\/h5>\n

Junior year is pivotal. It\u2019s those grades that colleges look at when deciding whether a student gets in or gets a scholarship.<\/p>\n

\"Joel

Joel Luera takes a quiz during a history class at Eastfield College Campus. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/p><\/div>\n

Samuell\u2019s early college program is competitive. There are interviews, recommendation letters and a lottery to get in. Most of the kids are the first in their families to try for college.<\/p>\n

Caitlin Beauford, program coordinator at Samuell, said they look for students with grit.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe look for that student that is hard-working and that maybe doesn\u2019t always have the best scores or the best grades, but they work hard and maybe we can see some improvement somewhere, a little bit of growth,” she said.<\/p>\n

Ninth and 10th graders who are accepted take core classes in a separate wing of the southeast Dallas high school. Then they\u00a0spend the last two years at Eastfield.<\/p>\n

By graduation, they can earn a high school diploma and\u00a0an associate\u2019s degree. This year\u2019s class of 57 seniors will be the first to finish early college.<\/p>\n

\"Joel

Joel Luera discusses his favorite career research project during a Pathways to College class led by DISD teacher Jonathan Martin, left, at Eastfield College. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/p><\/div>\n

It takes discipline.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have far fewer instructional face-to-face minutes on a college campus,” Beauford said. “You are responsible for quite a bit more on your own time outside of class than you are in a high school classroom.”<\/p>\n

Students have less frequent grades in the program, Beauford said.\u00a0In the Dallas Independent School District, students get 18 grades every six weeks. In a college classroom, students might have five or six for the entire semester, which means fewer chances to mess up \u2014 and recover.<\/p>\n

Beauford pointed to the way Joel has rebounded. He started the year with a 4.0 GPA and has enough credit hours to make up for last fall\u2019s troubles.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been just above and beyond dedicated to everything that he does,” she said. “You know, as a 10th grader, [he] passed all of the college readiness tests, the TSI, to take classes in math reading and writing, which is impressive. So this is three years early.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a junior, Joel is\u00a0already captain of the Samuell debate team and even judges a few tournaments.\u00a0At a tournament\u00a0last fall in Townview, Joel fought through a stomach bug as he took on some complex topics \u2013 cyber threats and national security.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThat\u2019s the biggest thing you learn here is that you\u2019re responsible for yourself, and you have to take care of yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joel Luera, high school junior<\/div>
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THE BENEFITS OF\u00a0STARTING EARLY<\/h5>\n

Around the country, hundreds of high schools have added early college programs. The Dallas school district and community colleges are launching eight new collegiate academies this fall.<\/p>\n

How effective are early college high schools? Two years ago, Joel Knudson of the American Institutes for Research co-authored a study on these programs.<\/p>\n

\"Joel

Joel Luera takes a DISD bus home from his classes at Eastfield College. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWe saw better outcomes while those students were in high school,” he said. “So students who attended early colleges graduated at higher rates.”<\/p>\n

The study found that 86 percent of early college students graduated from high school — higher than the 81 percent rate of comparison students.<\/p>\n

The researchers found something even more compelling.<\/p>\n

By the end of high school, 64 percent of early college students had enrolled in college, Knudson said. Meanwhile, only 24 percent of comparison students had enrolled.<\/p>\n

Knudson calls that finding promising.<\/p>\n

Joel is betting his big ticket to college is debate. His top choices are the University of Texas at Austin and Dartmouth. Or maybe Columbia. Or Harvard.<\/p>\n

Don Cheatum, Joel’s debate coach, thinks\u00a0he has a shot. What it boils down to, Cheatum said, is putting in the hours to prepare, travel and compete.<\/p>\n

That shouldn\u2019t be a problem for Joel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the biggest thing you learn here is that you\u2019re responsible for yourself, and you have to take care of yourself,” he said.<\/p>\n

For Joel, the next steps are clear: Debate camp this summer and hopefully a trip to the state tournament\u00a0his senior year.<\/p>\n\n

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    A study area at Eastfield College. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
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    Joel Luera prepares for a history class at Eastfield College. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
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    Joel Luera takes a quiz during a history class. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
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    Joel Luera listens to a history lecture by Dallas ISD teacher Kyle Bilton at Eastfield. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
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    Joel Luera takes notes during a history lecture at Eastfield College in Mesquite. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
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    Joel Luera, far right, stretches after his history class. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
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    Joel Luera, left, and friend Steve Vasquez look at their phones to check in with other friends to meet up for a study group. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
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    Joel Luera, far left, studies for a biology test with friends at Eastfield College. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n