Families toured the new Southwest Early College Campus.

Southwest Early College offers jumpstart

By: Alexia Lang

Posted: 8/25/08

Students in sixth and ninth grade looking for a new kind of high school education will begin filling the halls of the Southwest Early College Campus (SWECC) Aug. 25.

SWECC is a partnership between UMKC, the Kansas City, Mo. School district, Kansas City's Partnership for Regional Educational Preparation, the Kansas City Area Life Sciences Institute and the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation to offer Kansas City kids a chance to complete a minimum of 20 college credits during high school.

Aug. 22, families toured the campus, which is located in the former Southwest High School at 6512 Wornall Road. Students were able to register for classes, ask questions and pick up books.

Lynne Clawson-Day, program director of UMKC's High School/College Partnerships, said they had a good turnout.

"It's a great day for them [students]," she said. "We can kind of see them buzzing and interacting. It's exciting."

Elizabeth Sandhu, Spanish teacher, said while the students were registering for classes and getting supplies the teachers were trying to get everything settled in preparation for the first day of classes.

"We are just making sure we know where everything is," she said.

Although the program will eventually cater to students from sixth to 12th grade, this year the school will only have students in ninth and sixth grade with 120 students in each grade. Each year, two more grade levels will be added.

This semester students will not be studying college level courses in order to give them a chance to settle in. However, throughout the course of the program students can earn up to 60 college credits.

"They could graduate with an associates degree," Halley Chapman, Math teacher, said.

Chapman said she has seen different emotions from the children.

"A lot of them seem nervous," she said. "But some of them seem really excited."

Incoming freshman Brittany Simmons said she is looking forward to the program.

"I am here because I love to work on computers," she said. "It gives me a chance to prepare for college."

Simmons' mom, Feleacia Johnson, said she is proud of Brittany for making the decision to pursue a degree in computer sciences.

Johnson, who did not attend college, said this was an opportunity she could give her daughter that she never had for herself.

alang@unews.com