EARLY COLLEGE ACADEMY GRADUATES FIRST COHORT

Friends University has partnered with Wichita Public Schools’ Northwest High School for the Early College Academy (ECA). The program is designed to promote access and opportunity for more students to graduate with a college degree.

The program requires students to apply in 8th grade and is limited to 50 students each year. Students who are accepted into the program, regardless of their neighborhood high school, will become Northwest High School students and will be able to compete in extracurricular activities as Northwest Grizzlies, in addition to attending classes at Friends University beginning the summer before their sophomore year. Students in the ECA program will graduate high school earning up to 57 college credits allowing them to begin college as a third-year student.

This year marks the first senior cohort to graduate from the ECA program. Students were presented with Friends University graduation cords to wear at their high school graduation ceremony.

The Early College Academy program was made possible in part with a grant from the Walser Foundation of the Walser Auto Campus.