COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (KMTV) — Council Bluffs Community School District (CBCSD) returned to school Tuesday morning. However, for 50 of the district's students, the first day was last week.
Early College Academy students reported to Iowa Western Community College on day one.
"It was an economics class. It was one of those lecture types. It was stressful."
Abigail Franks talked about her first in-person college course at Iowa Western Community College last year.
Now, it's second nature for the Thomas Jefferson High School (T.J.) senior.
"You get the hang of it really fast. You just learn to balance your time," said Franks.
She and her peers from T.J. and Abraham Lincoln High School are used to it now.
"We have 50 high school juniors and seniors who are taking full-time college class loads right here on campus,” said Early College Academy Coordinator Spencer Matthews, Ed.D. “They are graduating both with their high school diploma and their associate's degree from Iowa Western simultaneously."
It’s safe to say the program has been a success.
"Our seniors last year graduated from Iowa Western with a 100% graduation rate and earned $9.5 million in college scholarships for the next year," Matthews said.
Early college academy is just a piece of the pie.
He added, "We have trade works, business pathway, computer pathway."
"In the culinary, in the health science, in the STEM," said CBCSD Superintendent Vickie Murillo, Ed.D.
It's all under the umbrella of the Diploma Plus-One Pathways, an initiative created by Murillo in 2018.
"We are seeing students who are graduating and receiving either an associate's, associate’s with applied science, a diploma or a certificate from Iowa Western Community College before they even walk our high school graduation stage," she said.
The goal is for every student to graduate with a second credential, certification or degree on top of the high school diploma. Putting them ahead of the game.
"And our students are able to do this at no cost,” Murillo said. “That's the other really great thing."
She says the entire district has bought into the Plus-One Pathway programs and traditional schooling is a thing of the past.
"We see that as our duty to prepare our Council Bluffs Community School district students to be future-ready, career ready," Matthews said.
"It's a game changer for us. It's transforming the way that we run our high schools and I'm so excited for the opportunities that our students are getting.”
The district says around 70% of last year's seniors received their diploma and their plus-one.
To learn more about the Plus-One Pathway programs, click here.
