Collegiate High School for South Walton through Seaside Neighborhood School

[graytonbeachguy]

jdarg:

I think WaltonParent has a legitimate concern. The original post indicated that Board member Mark Davis "said the younger students can be overlooked or not admitted when trying to go onto the masters level. He said the colleges feel they are simply too young." It was not phrased that he "asked" or "expressed concern."

WaltonParent's contention, as I understand it, was that Davis was making an affirmative representation as to this grad school admission policy and making his Board decisions based upon this "fact." WaltonParent simply wanted this claim substantiated or being given a reference to the source of this information. I don't think such a request is out of line. If there is such data, let's examine it; if there is no such data, let's just take it as the opinion (or "gut feeling") that it is.

 

[SneakyPete]

My daughter attended the collegiate HS in Niceville. While I cannot say enough good things about the program, I definitely came to understand that it is NOT for everyone. My daughter was more artsy than academic, mature for her age and (mostly) self-motivated. She graduated with her HS diploma and her AA. At 18, I know she felt a little rushed into choosing a career path, having to choose a major her first year in college, whereas if she had entered college as a Freshman, she would have had a couple of years to explore and mature. In the end she graduated from college after 4 years -- same as if she hadn't received her AA. We encouraged this. She needed that time. (She also worked, sometimes two jobs, and by her final year of college she was self-supporting). She has fond memories of her years at the collegiate and says she would definitely do it again. It provided a supportive environment for her artistic abilities and the size of the student body and involvement of the staff and administration made her feel valued in a way that artsy students are rarely valued in a larger high school, but she agrees that the program didn't quite give her the leg-up academically that she thought it would.

I also saw some kids who were being pushed into the collegiate by parents. The kids do give up a lot to do the program -- a lot of the traditional high school experiences -- so those who thrive in the program are those who choose to be there. And I believe that all of the area high schools offer some type of dual enrollment for those students who prefer to remain in their local school.

 

[Beach Runner]

Our daughter took 28 semester hours of classes at a local college during her junior and senior years of high school. Made all A's in these classes except for a B in a history (not wild about history -- the apple doesn't fall far from the trees). She took CS1 and CS2 from me -- she taught herself how to program when she was 11 -- didn't want any help from me. She was ready for CS at MIT. But not so much the Calc I and II and Physics I and II. She would have been much better off taking AP calc and physics because the tests are standardized. Those A's gave her a false sense of confidence. Thankfully we were advised to start her out in calc I and physics I at MIT. MIT wanted her to start with calc III. Thank goodness we told her no. She said, "Mom, you were right. In calc I in the first week at MIT, they did everything that we did in calc I and II at the local college." The same was true with physics. Most of her classmates at MIT had gone to prep schools that used the same textbooks their senior year in high school that MIT uses for freshmen. So these classmates had already worked all of the p-sets (problem sets) in high school. They coasted through their freshman year at MIT, whereas she had to work her butt off to keep up with the p-sets.

And Jenny, you are so right about planning for college before the 7th grade. Our daughter should have taken algebra I in the 7th, algebra II in 8th, geometry in the 9th, precalc in the 10th, and calculus in the 11th so that she could have taken calc-based physics as a senior. The math sequence is very important for prepping your child for a top fifty university (or in her case, a top 3 university). So we goofed up there. She had to work 20 times harder than most of her classmates at MIT because even though she is smart, she wasn't well prepared.

 

[DaleDalbey]

Great insight, beach runner. My hope is that the collegiate model will include college prep, not just college and will include AP and IB classes. IB is arguably much harder than AP and has the standardized curricula and testing that you mention. I know several students from the Birmingham area who took the IB route. They obtained full or significant scholarships (not needs based) to nationally ranked schools and performed very well.

 

[Beach Runner]

IB was not an option near where we live, and her small private school didn't offer AP classes.

 

[bentley williams]

Just curious how things are working out at Seacoast High. How is the program working and are kids going to Niceville?