ON SCHOOLS
Program offers head start on college
By Beverly Creamer
Advertiser Education Writer
Ling "Lisa" Lu is just 17, but by the time she enters college in the fall she'll have 27 credits toward her first year.
Lu is one of 59 students who participated in the Running Start program at Honolulu Community College this spring. It's designed to give talented but less affluent Hawai'i high school juniors and seniors an educational advantage.
It is offering an increasing number of bright young students the chance to push themselves academically — and bank college credits during high school.
The head start gives Lu the option of finishing college in three years, saving her family money and giving herself a leg-up on both college and her career.
Along with carrying her high school class load as a senior at Sacred Hearts Academy, Lu took a first-year Sociology 100 course every Monday night at HCC. Along with numerous credits from Advanced Placement courses at Sacred Hearts and two courses she took last summer at the University of Hawai'i, it will vault her into second year at the University of Notre Dame in September.
Although Running Start began at HCC in the spring of 2001, now that the pilot program is complete all public high schools can participate, said program coordinator Dave Cleveland, a professor at HCC. This year 59 high school students took college classes and 84 percent of them are planning advanced degrees beyond their bachelor's.
In summarizing the latest results from the pilot program, Cleveland noted many of the Running Start students are first-generation college students, often immigrants or the children of immigrants.
But Cleveland's report also points out that much more needs to be done to publicize the program's availability and potential. More than half of the students in the program this semester came from McKinley.
"If the recruitment effort at McKinley could be duplicated at nearby Farrington and Moanalua high schools," Cleveland's report says, "and if the effort could be extended to other O'ahu public and private high schools, Running Start enrollment at the college (HCC) could be boosted dramatically."
It also could be a financial boon for the community colleges, he said. The 130 Running Start high school students enrolled in college classes this summer at HCC will bring in $60,000 for the college.
In analyzing the students in the program, which is patterned after Washington State's plan, Cleveland applauded the number of immigrant families but said the program needs to attract more students from minority groups, particularly Pacific Islanders.
Lu found the program a balanced accompaniment to AP courses. She also has received $6,500 in college scholarships and $30,750 in assistance, loans and grants from Notre Dame.
And she said the extra academic commitment didn't interfere with her high school classes or extracurricular activities.
"I thought I should take an initiative to further my education," said Lu, who arrived in Hawai'i from China at age 7, speaking no English.
"I want to go into pre-med. I thought I might as well get some core classes over."
For more information on Running Start, contact Dave Cleveland at 845-9238 or your high school's counselor.
Reach Beverly Creamer at bcreamer@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8013.
