Students need to take advantage of programs offered

by Kamarra Williams Staff Writer

Every year Dr. Samuel Martin, coordinator of student transition and strategic partnerships, runs a variety of programs that get students prepared for the future.

“We have the early college program, dual credit, dual enrollment, Access Point, internships at Boeing, plus many more,” Martin said.

Isaac Armour-Dozier, senior, participated in Access Point.

“It is beneficial, because with Access Point, you aren’t just going there for better education and credits,” Armour-Dozier said. “You go in knowing you have a job. That’s not something you get regularly in St. Louis. You come out with college credits, resumes and a guaranteed job that can lead to millions in the future. It’s not that many people, but if you get in earlier, you get more one-on-one time to communicate.”

There are also other college credit opportunities that one can use on a class to class basis. Dual credit is when high school students take classes at the highschool campus that have been approved by the community college to be offered as college credit. Dual enrollment is when students take classes at the actual community college, and they earn both college and highschool credit concurrently.

“Many other schools have college programs, but we were one of the first ones in the area,” Martin said. “We offer more dual credit programs at University City High School than any school in the area; we were actually rewarded by the community college for offering the most.”

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These programs are at no cost for the students at all, and even students outside of the early college programs have a ton of college credit that’s available to them.

“I would encourage anybody to figure out or have an idea of what they want to do and then try to figure out what you can do in high school to prepare you for that,” Martin said.

Another major program Martin coordinates is the early college program [see U-Times Nov. 2022 issue]. The early college program is when students earn their associates degree and also take classes at the community college senior year.

These programs students have access to rigorous curriculum and they’re able to see what the college level expectations are, which helps them be better prepared for whatever they want to do after high school. A’rianna Reid, junior, is in the early college program and feels the college course experience is worth the effort.

“I would recommend it only if you’re serious about it,” Reid said. “There’s no room or time for playing around. The workload is hard most of the time, that’s where being serious comes in because you have to learn to manage and prioritize things.”

The first step to get into one of these programs if interested is to reach out to your counselor or Dr. Martin himself.

“You can reach out to me on what your specific interest is or maybe your idea on what you’d want to do in the future,” Martin said. “You can connect around which program would be best for you.”

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There are several ways to go about doing this. With your guy friends, you might host a game night, attend a sporting event, go bowling or grab lunch. With girl friend groups, you can enjoy a movie marathon, surprise each other with Valentine’s Day cards, have your nails done or grab coffee together. You can do all of the above with your family or simply enjoy their presence. There are many more options than the handful listed, meaning you’re not limited to them; you just have to go out and find more.

“I feel like Valentine’s Day is a very interesting day. It’s not about just showing love to your significant other,” Kenya Calvert, senior, said. “You can show love to a lot of different people too- friends, family, significant others, pets. There’s a lot of love to go around.”

Even if you don’t have someone else’s attention, you can always get fulfillment from self-love by using the day to set aside some time for yourself and establish an internal connection. There isn’t much discussion of this substitution, but it is an important one since it can help overcome any trauma or self-doubt you may be experiencing. Restoring your sense of self-worth while still feeling special on V-Day is something people should look into.

As love is so much more than just giving and receiving affection from a boyfriend or girlfriend, Valentine’s Day should not be limited to couples. It doesn’t matter that you’re getting a stuffed animal from a friend while someone else is getting cards from their boyfriend/girlfriend. Both are distinctive and special in their own right. With this in mind, try to keep the true meaning of Valentine’s Day in sight: a day of love.