More than 80 students dodged in and out of the rain on a recent July morning as they toured the St. Philips College campus east of downtown San Antonio, ending their tour with a rousing speech by Adena Williams Loston, the college president.
“We’re here today, because you started the journey,” she said. “This is an opportunity where you’re not having to deal with how much this college costs … because you are going to go to school on … your own knowledge, skills and abilities.”
Unlike the thousands of other college freshmen gearing up for the fall semester these students are also getting ready to transition from middle school to Alamo Heights High School — the latest local institution to add an Early College High School to allow students to attain an associates degree by the time, or even before, they graduate college.
“It changes the trajectory, it changes the social mobility of students and individuals in San Antonio,” Loston said.
Six other area districts are also launching new programs with various Alamo Colleges District campuses this year, including Early College High School programs at North East Independent School District, Marble Falls ISD and Fredericksburg ISD and Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH) programs at Boerne and South San Antonio ISDs.
The growth is substantial, with partnerships expanding from just two in 2008 to a projected 55 partnerships with 27 districts and charter networks by 2026.
Alamo Heights ISD leaders have been developing the program over the last year with help from two grants from the Texas Education Agency.
Jubilee San Antonio, a charter school, recently received a similar $100,000 grant to plan for an early college high school with Palo Alto College opening in 2025.
Expanding college access
About 17 minutes away from the college campus, Cory Ann Smith, the Alamo Heights High principal, chatted in a district sports facility, which she is using as a makeshift office while the school undergoes extensive renovations as part of a bond project.
“Ultimately, our goal is for students to leave here college and career ready,” she said. “So the more opportunities we can provide for students to gain some skills and knowledge and dispositions that will help them on that next step, the better off they’ll be.”
The school was already offering Advanced Placement courses, which students can transfer into college credit, and some dual credit courses — but the new “school within a school” approach will allow 120 of its students to start two-year degree programs next year.
“That was really the focus was to expand our college course offerings on our campus.” Smith said.
Core classes, which generally take up the first two years of a four-year bachelor's degree, are covered in the associates, allowing students to spend more time focusing on the degree of their choice at a younger age and with fewer costs once they graduate, she said.
The new program is launching at the same time as a P-TECH program at Alamo Heights, which will focus on getting students credentialed and ready to enter the workforce straight out of high school if they choose.
That pathway is for "anybody who's interested in being a teacher or coach or maybe doing some sort of corporate training," she said, allowing students to get both an associate's degree and an industry-based certification as a paraprofessional.
"So should they decide to continue their four-year degree and get their education degree, they can actually work as a substitute or a [paraprofessional] during that time and get paid as well," she said.
Unlike with some other Early College programs, the 120 students will spend their high school experience alongside the other 1,500 students at Alamo Heights instead of leaving campus or spending time online in a computer lab.
"What my goal has always been is to build it so that students can have the benefit of the Early College Program, but not lose the benefit of the traditional high school experience," Smith said.
A double transition
The tour and a ceremony on Friday marked the end of a "Summer Bridge" program, where students got to know each other and the professors who will be teaching them in the coming years.
Emilia Rojas, 13, who is transitioning from homeschooling to the early college high school program, said the summer activity was a good introduction to her peers.
"It's definitely made me more confident," she said. "I feel like I've started to build some friendships and gotten to know some new people."
Having already taken some AP courses, she feels ready academically for college — and hopes to learn more for a possible future in engineering or nursing.
Panashe Sykes, 14, has been in Alamo Heights ISD schools since he began his educational career and said he thought the program would help him get ahead, even if it is hard work.
"I think if I stay focused and stay committed, I'll do fine," he said.
Smith, who is getting ready to move into a portable office before the start of the school year, said the program has the potential to adjust the course of young students' lives.
"I'm really excited about the way that this will definitely change the stars for some of our students," she said. "It will allow students to not only get a head start, but it might enable some students who didn't think that this was the route for them, it will help them see that they can do it, and that they will continue on after us and go finish their four-year degree."
