Progress Education
“learning;
Seniors in Jim Haney’s AP government class work on a worksheet during class on Dec. 18 at Albert Lea High School. HannaH Dillon/albert lea tribune
Albert Lea High School is It’s more than Sometimes actually Riverland Community College just school
you apply it in
StuDentS cHallengeD witH tougH claSSeS By Hannah Dillon
hannah.dillon@albertleatribune.com
P
life.”
reparing for college may seem daunting for some seniors, but two Albert Lea students are taking an academic approach to it. Emily Solum and Megan Lindely have taken a number of advanced classes for gifted and talented students at Albert Lea High School — classes that can help them prepare for college and even beyond that. “It’s more than just school learning; you apply it in life,” Lindely said. The advanced classes Solum and Lindely have taken are College in the Schools and Advanced Placement. College in the Schools — or CIS, as students and faculty call it — is offered at Albert Lea High School through Riverland Community College. The classes are taught at the high school by ALHS faculty. Students must be in the top third of their sophomore class, the top half of their junior class and score at college level on the Accuplacer test to be eligible for CIS courses. CIS courses offered at ALHS are Humanities English 12, Writing College Papers, PreCalculus A, Pre-Calculus B, Humanities Social 11, Intro to Computers and Microsoft Word. Grossklaus also said there are firefighter and certified nursing assistant classes at the high school that are offered through Riverland. In addition to CIS classes, the high school offers three Advanced Placement classes: calculus, biology and government. Solum said she likes her CIS and AP classes because it helps her prepare for the future and save money once she graduates and goes to college. Lindely said she likes to be challenged and work for her grades, and believes that her experience with AP and CIS will reduce the reality check she might get at college. Solum and Lindely have taken AP biology, Writing College Papers, Humanities Social 11, Humanities English 12 and AP government. The CIS and AP classes are for students who could be considered gifted and talented;
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Jim Haney teachers AP government and Humanities Social Students participating in the 11 at Albert Lea High School, two classes in the College in College in the Schools courses at the Schools program. Albert Lea High School in 2014-15
DOOR DOOR by
This is the door at 200 N. Broadway to ISC Financial Advisors and to Northwestern Mutual. It is the former Albert Lea City Hall, a building known for its stone arch entryways.
however, these students aren’t sorted or put into a separate group, Albert Lea High School Principal Mark Grossklaus said. Rather, the students select which classes, tests and opportunities they want to pursue. Besides CIS and AP classes, there is the College Level Examination Program and extracurricular activities such as the math team, Knowledge Bowl, chess club and First Robotics, among others. Though they both offer college credit, Grossklaus said there is a difference between CIS and AP classes. CIS classes are similar to what college coursework is. Faculty that teach CIS classes need a master’s degree or higher and students get dual credit with Riverland. AP classes give students high school credit, and students can earn college credit by taking the AP test for the class. The AP test holds weight throughout the country, Grossklaus said, and a college can look at a student’s AP test and offer credit for a course. Grossklaus said Advanced Placement classes are also higher rigor than College in the Schools classes. In the realm of language, College Level Examination Program, or CLEP, is the AP of Spanish at the high school, Grossklaus said. Students in Spanish levels 4 and 5 are the most prepared to take the CLEP test to earn college credit, he said, but the exam is not required to pass the class. In addition to in-the-classroom programs, Grossklaus said the high school also has a Lead the Way Program that infuses industrial technology in the school. Students in the child development class work at the preschools and shadow the caretakers to learn, and this has received great feedback from the community. “The community has been very good to the high school,” Grossklaus said. Students can also go through the youth apprenticeship program with the Workforce Center at Riverland to get internships at businesses around town. This is ideal for students interested in going to work after high school rather than college, Grossklaus said, as a four-year university isn’t the answer for every student. If CIS, AP, CLEP or the other programs at the school aren’t the right fit for a student, they
10
Pages of the longest paper Albert Lea seniors Emily Solum and Megan Lindely ever had to write
See CLASSES, Page 3
5.7
Average credits a student can earn from a College in the Schools or AP course at ALHS
ide? What’s ins
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Page 2 | AlbertleAtribune.com | Progress 2015 | education | sundAy, FebruAry 22, 2015
Art all around us
“Hope” by Glenville-Emmons High School senior Anna Severtson. Do you see the word?
Preparing young people to embrace Christ’s call to transform the world
Hollandale Christian School has been providing quality Christ-centered education in Southeastern Minnesota for 60 years. We provide: • Strong parental support with Christian families, representing over twenty different churches and nine area communites • Multi-age, self-contained classrooms for grades K-8 • Strong academic program with curriculum from a Christian-based perspective
203 Central Avenue Hollandale, MN (507) 889-3321
www.hollandalechristian.org
Please contact us to schedule a visit to Hollandale Christian School or learn more about what we have to offer you and your children.
Sunday, February 22, 2015 | Education | ProgreSS 2015 | albertleatribune.com | PagE 3
meet the
nExt gEnEration
By Micah Bader
micah.bader@albertleatribune.com
gracE WilkEnson agE: 10 gradE: Fourth FavoritE Food: SPaghetti FavoritE tEaM: nrheg PantherS FavoritE MoviE: “Frozen” (2013) FavoritE tv shoW: “i didn’t do it” on diSney FavoritE class: art
Grace Wilkenson stands next to her locker at NRHEG Elementary School in Ellendale.
lEvi dEnhErdEr agE: 9 gradE: Fourth FavoritE Food: bacon FavoritE tEaM: minneSota golden goPherS FavoritE MoviE: “the love bug” (1968) FavoritE tv shoW: “the dukeS oF hazzard” rerunS FavoritE class: math
Levi Denherder stands next to his locker at NRHEG Elementary School in Ellendale.
For Advanced Placement and College in the Schools classes, students have higher rigor coursework. hannah dillon/albert lea tribune
Classes Continued from Front Page
can enroll in a Post-secondary enrollment Option to take courses at a university. Most students go to Minnesota state University in Mankato, Grossklaus said. There are about 70 students involved with CIs and five involved with PseO, Grossklauas said. “We’re the right size school to give kids different opportunities,” he said. Jim Haney is a CIs instructor at the high school who teaches Humanities social 11 and aP government. each class earns a student six credits from Riverland.
Haney, who has been with the district for 25 years, said the biggest difference between a CIs or aP class and a regular class is increased reading and writing. For example, students in aP government read “1984” and have to do a critical book review on a nonfiction history or government book of their choosing. Humanities social 11 students write a research paper that focuses on a topic between 1946 to the present and read “The autobiography of Malcolm X.” Humanities social 11 students also do an extensive research project with a mentor from the Freeborn County Historical Museum. students research for three to four weeks and then put on a
history day for fifth-graders. Haney said the kids like the project, though it is a lot of work. But what they get out of it are speaking, research and group-work skills, he said. “We want them to be prepared as they possibly can for the next academic step,” he said. solum and lindely — who are both in Haney’s aP government class — feel that their experience with CIs and aP courses are doing just that, but they noted the classes force students to come up with study habits. “You have to learn them fast,” lindely said. lindely said she needed flashcards to
learn while solum said writing notes and reading them over helped her retain the information. In addition to studying for tests more, lindely and solum said their longest paper they had to write was 10 pages. In Writing College Papers, they said they had papers once a week but those essays were no more than three pages. What will happen after graduation for these two prepared seniors? solum said she’s headed to Winona state University to study education. lindely said she’s going to augustana College in sioux Falls, south Dakota, for business and spanish.
Page 4 | AlbertleAtribune.com | Progress 2015 | education | sundAy, FebruAry 22, 2015
ScHooLS bY tHe nuMbeRS Public schools: albert Lea area Schools address: 211 Richway Drive, Albert Lea Phone: 379-4800 Superintendent: Mike Funk district number: 241 2013-14 enrollment: 3,214 district size: 227.68 square miles eligible for free/reduced lunch: 50% title i district in 2015? Yes Making aYP? No Mascot: Tigers Website: albertlea.k12.mn.us Schools: albert Lea High School address: 2000 Tiger Lane, Albert Lea Phone: 507-379-5340 Principal: Mark Grossklaus 2013-14 enrollment: 1,103 eligible for free/reduced lunch: 39% title i school in 2015? No Making aYP? No average 2014 act score: 21.8 Southwest Middle School address: 1601 W. Front St., Albert Lea Phone: 379-5240 Principal: Steve Kovach 2013-14 enrollment: 477 eligible for free/reduced lunch: 50% title i school in 2015? No Making aYP? No Halverson elementary School address: 707 E. 10th St., Albert Lea Phone: 379-4900 Principal: Johanna Thomas 2013-14 enrollment: 361 attendance boundary: 110.61 square miles eligible for free/reduced lunch: 75% title i school in 2015? Yes Making aYP? No Hawthorne elementary School address: 1000 E. Hawthorne St., Albert Lea Phone: 379-4960 Principal: Karen Zwolenski 2013-14 enrollment: 356 attendance boundary: 10.04 square miles eligible for free/reduced lunch: 64% title i school in 2015? Yes Making aYP? No Lakeview elementary School address: 902 Abbott St., Albert Lea Phone: 379-5020 Principal: Nick Sofio 2013-14 enrollment: 430 attendance boundary: 32.52 square miles eligible for free/reduced lunch: 47% title i school in 2015? Yes Making aYP? Yes Sibley elementary School address: 1501 Front St., Albert Lea Phone: 379-5080 Principal: Ross Williams 2013-14 enrollment: 354 attendance boundary: 74.51 square miles eligible for free/reduced lunch: 46% title i school in 2015? Yes Making aYP? Yes albert Lea area Learning center address: 211 W. Richway Drive, Albert Lea Phone: 379-4853 Principal: Kathy Niebuhr 2013-14 enrollment: 122 eligible for free/reduced lunch: 66% Making aYP? No Fountain centers address: 408 W. Fountain St., Albert Lea Phone: 377-6411 2013-14 enrollment: 7 eligible for free/reduced lunch: 28% Making aYP? Yes Hayward group Home address: 80880 County Road 46, Hayward Phone: 373-8103 2013-14 enrollment: 4 eligible for free/reduced lunch: 100% Making aYP? Yes
alden-conger Public School address: 215 N. Broadway, Alden Phone: 874-3240
Second-grader Emma Vogt diligently works on a craft project of the Mexican flag in May 2011 at St. Theodore Catholic School. The students got to make a special project as part of Cinco de Mayo. sArAh stultz/Albert leA tribune Superintendent: Brian Shanks district number: 242 2013-14 enrollment: 504 district size: 86.63 square miles eligible for free/reduced lunch: 40% title i district in 2015? Yes Making aYP? No Mascot: Knights Website: www.alden-conger.org Schools: alden-conger Secondary School address: 215 N. Broadway, Alden Phone: 874-3240 Principal: Brian Shanks 2013-14 enrollment: 231 eligible for free/reduced lunch: 38% title i school in 2015? No Making aYP? No average 2014 act score: 23.2 alden-conger elementary School address: 215 N. Broadway, Alden Phone: 874-3240 Principal: Brian Shanks 2013-14 enrollment: 273 eligible for free/reduced lunch: 41% title i school in 2015? Yes Making aYP? No
glenville-emmons Schools address: 230 Fifth St. SE, Glenville Phone: 448-2889 Superintendent: Jerry Reshetar district number: 2886 2013-14 enrollment: 247 district size: 149.70 square miles eligible for free/reduced lunch: 43% title i district in 2015? Yes Making aYP? No Mascot: Wolverines Website: geschools.com Schools: glenville-emmons High/Middle School address: 230 Fifth St. SE, Glenville Phone: 448-2889 Principal: Jeff Tietje 2013-14 enrollment: 113 eligible for free/reduced lunch: 37% title i school in 2015? No Making aYP? No average 2014 act score: 18.4 glenville-emmons elementary School address: 240 Second Ave. SW, Glenville Phone: 448-3334 Principal: Jeff Tietje 2013-14 enrollment: 134 eligible for free/reduced lunch: 49% title i school in 2015? Yes Making aYP? Yes
new Richland-Hartlandellendale-geneva School district address: 306 Ash Ave. S., New Richland Phone: 465-3205 Superintendent: Dennis Goodwin district number: 2168
2013-14 enrollment: 944 district size: 234.93 square miles eligible for free/reduced lunch: 39% title i district in 2015? Yes Making aYP? No Mascot: Panthers Website: nrheg.k12.mn.us Schools: new Richland-Hartland-ellendalegeneva Secondary School address: 306 Ash Ave. S., New Richland Phone: 465-8633 Principal: David Bunn 2013-14 enrollment: 494 eligible for free/reduced lunch: 39% title i school in 2015? No Making aYP? No average 2014 act score: 21.1 new Richland-Hartland-ellendalegeneva elementary School address: 600 School St., Ellendale Phone: 684-3181 Principal: Doug Anderson 2013-14 enrollment: 450 eligible for free/reduced lunch: 40% title i school in 2015? Yes Making aYP? Yes
united South central Public Schools address: 600 11th SW, Wells Phone: 553-3134 Superintendent: Jerry Jensen district number: 2134 2013-14 enrollment: 619 district size: 342.56 square miles eligible for free/reduced lunch: 42% title i district in 2015? Yes Making aYP? Yes Mascot: Rebels Website: usc.k12.mn.us Schools: united South central High School address: 600 11th SW, Wells Phone: 553-5819 Principal: Kelly Schlaak 2013-14 enrollment: 311 eligible for free/reduced lunch: 36% title i school in 2015? No Making aYP? Yes average 2014 act score: 22.1 united South central elementary School address: 600 11th SW, Wells Phone: 553-5819 Principal: Tracey Magnuson 2013-14 enrollment: 308 eligible for free/reduced lunch: 47% title i school in 2015? Yes Making aYP? Yes
Lake Mills community School address: 102 S. Fourth Ave. E., Lake Mills Phone: 641-592-0881 Superintendent: Daryl Sherman
2013-14 enrollment: 610 district size: 180.8 square miles eligible for free/reduced lunch: 36% Making aYP? Yes Mascot: Bulldogs Website: lake-mills.k12.ia.us note: Title I not available for Lake Mills, and ACT unavailable for Iowa schools. Schools: Lake Mills High School address: 102 S. Fourth Ave. E., Lake Mills Phone: 641-592-0894 Principal: James Scholbrock 2013-14 enrollment: 213 Making aYP? Yes Lake Mills Middle School address: 102 S. Fourth Ave. E., Lake Mills Phone: 641-592-0893 Principal: James Scholbrock 2013-14 enrollment: 161 Making aYP? Yes Lake Mills elementary School address: 102 S. Fourth Ave. E., Lake Mills Phone: 641-592-1882 Principal: Kari Wagner 2013-14 enrollment: 328 Making aYP? Yes
northwood-Kensett community School district address: 1200 First Ave. N., Northwood Phone: 641-324-2021 Superintendent: Michael Crozier 2013-14 enrollment: 519 district size: 161.8 square miles eligible for free/reduced lunch: 36% title i district in 2015: Yes Making aYP? Yes Mascot: Vikings Website: nwood-kensett.k12.ia.us Schools: northwood-Kensett Junior-Senior High School address: 704 Seventh St. N., Northwood Phone: 641-324-2142 Principal: Keith Fritz 2013-14 enrollment: 237 title i school in 2015: No Making aYP? Yes northwood-Kensett elementary School address: 1200 First Ave. N., Northwood Phone: 641-324-1127 Principal: Brian Costello 2013-14 enrollment: 332 title i school in 2015: Yes Making aYP? No
Private schools Hollandale christian School address: 203 Central Ave. S., Hollandale Phone: 889-3321 administrator: Enno Haan 2013-14 K-8 enrollment: 72 eligible for free/reduced lunch: 14% Mascot: Eagles Website: hollandalechristian.org
St. casimir’s School address: 300 Second Ave. SW, Wells Phone: 553-5822 Principal: Joanne Tibodeau 2013-14 K-8 enrollment: 51 eligible for free/reduced lunch: 25% Mascot: Saints Website: stcasimirsschool.net
St. theodore catholic School address: 323 E. Clark St., Albert Lea Phone: 373-9657 Principal: Sue Amundson 2013-14 K-6 enrollment: 67 eligible for free/reduced lunch: 40% Mascot: None Website: sttheo.org note: Enrollment on this page reflects state-certified numbers and does not Albert Lea Mayor Vern Rasmussen signs copies of Dr. Seuss’ ‘The Cat in the Hat’ for second-grade students from Hawthorne Elementary include preschool classes many public and in March 2014 at City Hall in honor of Read Across Albert Lea Day. colleen hArrison/Albert leA tribune private schools offer.
Sunday, February 22, 2015 | Education | ProgreSS 2015 | albertleatribune.com | PagE 5
What in the world?
Austin Debeao, a sixth-grader at Hollandale Christian School, covered the country of Kelly Dobberstein, a sixth-grader at Hollandale Christian School, covered Mexico for the France for the school’s Festival of Nations in mid-January. school’s Festival of Nations. colleen HarriSon/albert lea tribune
Albert LEa
Fosters academic excellence and high achievements Educated and prepares for success in life Offers a safe and secure environment for your child
Area SChools: WORKING FOR THE SUCCESS OF ALL
Students generally perform higher on standard achievement tests Students are more likely to complete a bachelors or advanced degree by their mid-20s
LEARNERS.
Good for Students • Good for Families • Good for America
Now serving Pre-Kindergarten through 5th Grade
“St. Theodore Catholic School promotes excellence through a well-rounded academic curriculum in a Christ-centered environment for children of all faiths.”
GO Tigers! ALBERT LEA AREA SCHOOLS
Call or visit us 323 E. Clark St. • Albert Lea
Thinking. Achieving. Caring.
www.sttheo.org • 507-373-9657
Glenville-Emmons Schools
230 5th St. SE | Glenville, MN | 507.448.2889
Opportunities abound in a caring, positive environment
Page 6 | AlbertleAtribune.com | Progress 2015 | education | sundAy, FebruAry 22, 2015
Riverland Community College has been inspiring personal success through education for 75 years. Celebrate with us as we honor this milestone.
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