Of the 61 freshmen who made up the first ever class of the Golden Triangle Early College High School last school year, all 61 have returned for the school’s second year.
“We’re really pleased with that,” Principal Jill Savely said.
GTECHS gives high school students the opportunity to take college-level classes while earning their high school diploma. Students from Lowndes, Oktibbeha, Clay and Noxubee counties can apply during their eighth grade year. After an interview process, about 60 students are selected through a lottery.
The school serves students who need a non-traditional high school experience, Savely said. Class sizes are smaller, courses more interactive and, with the classes all taking place on East Mississippi Community College’s Mayhew campus, the students have the opportunity to earn enough college credit for an associate’s degree by the time they graduate from high school.
“Some students come because they want a new environment,” Savely said. “Others come because they really want to focus on school and they don’t play sports or do band, art, that kind of thing.”
The school’s first year was a hit, judging by the 100 percent return rate of its first class. This year, incoming freshmen have doubled the size of the school. In two years, when the school fields four grade levels for the first time, it will have roughly 240 students.
A unique experience
Freshman William Bennett, a 13-year-old from Caledonia, decided to go to GTECHS because it seemed like it would be more interactive than a typical high school.
When friends ask him why he goes there, he tells them it’s because his mom made him.
“What I really should be saying is, ‘Thanks Mom,'” he said.
Two months into the school year and he’s already made a lava lamp, as well as conducted other biological experiments. He’s involved in Game Theory Club as an extracurricular where he learns the mathematical and logical theories behind different games – and has learned how to play blackjack.
He’s also seen welding and mechanics classes at EMCC and has been surprised at how inviting the college has been to the high school students. Instructors at the college have welcomed the high school students into the occasional class and the students were invited to EMCC’s Reality Fair, which sets up booths showing what all EMCC offers to college-age students.
Bennett has also begun to think of a career path. He’s interested in drafting and design and wants learn how to design buildings.
That’s one of the big changes GTECHS has made this year, Savely said. The teachers are pushing the students to think more about potential career pathways earlier. The sophomores are taking a career exploration class, which freshmen will take next semester.
“We expose students to everything that’s available here to them so they have time to make decisions before that junior year here when … some of them will be full-fledged community college students,” Savely said. “We’ve started … to look at academic pathways and what that entails, and career technical pathways and what that entails.”
Extracurricular choices
The other big change the school has made is pushing extracurricular activities for students. GTECHS doesn’t have the traditional sports or music programs, but the teachers asked last year’s students what kind of clubs they wanted. The answers ended up being everything from Debate and Game Theory to Garden Club.
“That’s been new this year,” Savely said. “We wanted students to have a lot of voice and choice with that process, so they told us what they wanted and we tried to make it happen.”
Sophomore Alexis Turner, a 15-year-old from Starkville, is heavily involved in Drama, along with Rocketry and Adventure Club, where the kids explore nature.
During the summer, she had been looking forward to going back to GTECHS where she made a lot of close friends last year and where there’s a much smaller teacher-to-student ratio.
“I was looking forward to things being the same,” she said.
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