At Shadow Ridge, the school works hard to make sure their students are thoroughly prepared for college. Some classes even go as far as to enroll their students in both college and high school. Dual credit courses allow students to take college level classes, and get college level benefits, while still attending high school and earning high school credits at the same time.  Some of the courses offered at SRHS are Psychology 101 and Sociology 101, Government, History 101 and 102, and English 101 and 102.

Starting off, there is English 101 and 102 This class is taught by Mrs. Smith, who is also the journalism advisor. This class is focused mainly on writing.

“The class consists on learning how to write different research papers but we do college prep, journalist and satirical writing too,” says Mrs. Smith.

Students are also prepared for college through the class by working on their college entrance essays and other documents. On top of the writing skills students gain, there is also a “huge financial benefit.”

“Students are only paying 1/10th of the price they would pay in college,” says Mrs. Smith.

And, if students take all of the dual credit classes available at Shadow, they have their entire freshmen year of college completed as well.

“It’s also a smaller classroom setting than other intro. classes in college,” says Mrs. Smith

Students who complete ENG101/102 earn 6 college credits, but to move on from English 101 to English 102, students must maintain at least a C in the class.

“I don’t think it’s hard as long as people come to class, pay attention, and do their work,” says Mrs. Smith.

Joining English 101 and 102 next year is Dual Credit Government.

“I wanted to help give students an opportunity to earn college credits while still in high school and to help students feel more prepared for college level work,” says AP Psychology and Dual Credit Government teacher, Mr. Nighswonger.

In this class, students learn everything about the government as a whole, the way it’s structured, and how it applies to everyday experiences, taking from Mr. Nighswonger’s quote, “#Govislife”!

The last two dual credit classes offered at Shadow are Dual Credit U.S. History, and Dual Credit Psychology 101/Sociology 101, both of which are taught by Ms. Beckham. These classes are exactly how they sound. In U.S. History, students focus on how America started and travel through each era of life in the United States. They learn about the innovations and set backs of each time period, and so much more.

Psychology 101 is only for 1 semester, while Sociology 101 takes up the other half. Students learn about different psychologists and their studies, such as Sigmund Freud, and they learn about society and why it functions the way it does. Both of these classes are very simple, and do not have an intense work load.

For students who want to pay as little as possible when it comes to college, dual credit is the way to go. It’s the full college experience for a significantly lower price. Through dual credit, anything is possible.