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Show RICH HIGH SCHOOL 15 years later concurrent enrollment keeps paying off By Amanda Flemett Rich High School is in the northwest corner of Utah, over 200 miles away from Utah State University's Uintah Basin campus, but over half of the students stu-dents who attend Rich also take classes at USU Uintah Basin almost every day. Eighteen of the 43-member senior graduating class from Rich will walk down the aisle in May with their associate as-sociate degrees from USU, even before they don their cap and gown for high school graduation in their hometown of Randolph. Their accelerated track to higher education ed-ucation is made possible through USU Uintah Basin's concurrent enrollment program. Rich High was one of the first high schools in the state to become involved with concurrent enrollment through USU from its inception about 15 years ago. Today the university's concurrent enrollment program is taught in 60 high schools in Utah, including Wasatch Front 5-A schools. "Utah State University Uintah Basin out of Roosevelt is like our mother university," said Rich High concurrent enrollment director Delora White. "We have several students who go through the program and most end up with their associate degree." White said the majority of the students from Rich who graduate with their associate degree have gone on to obtain their bachelors and in some cases their masters. "The ones that I know in the last three years have all finished and at least have a bachelors," said White. The concurrent enrollment program has evolved a great deal in the last 1 5 years at Rich High, said Rich County School District Superintendent Dale Lamborn. "We continue to get more kids involved in-volved and the variety of programming offered by the university continues to get better," explained Lamborn. "The delivery system gets better, the instruction instruc-tion continues to improve and it all gets better every year. We anticipate that will continue to be the case." Rich High is benefiting from the concurrent enrollment program in yet another way, noted Lamborn. "We have a couple of former students of this program who are now back and teaching in our system and they've had real positive things to say," he said. "Instead of going out and being in the workforce in four to five years they were in the work force in two years. They both are doing an outstanding job and that has been one of the biggest testimonials for me." College classes from USU Uintah Basin are offered during regular school hours at Rich. Some are taught on line but most are taught through two-way audiovideo which allows the professor profes-sor and students to see each other and communicate. "It helps that the classes are offered during the same time and some count as high school credits, so I still get my high school credits while I'm taking the college classes too," said Rich High senior Lauren Kennedy, who will attend USU in Logan in the fall. Kennedy is student body president at Rich and also runs track. She said that she hasn't had to give up any of her extracurricular or social activities because of the extra course load. In addition, she noted that taking concurrent concur-rent enrollment classes has helped her learn to balance her responsibilities. Kennedy and others who graduate with their associate degrees in hand are eligible for a very helpful scholarship. scholar-ship. The Governor's New Century Scholarship, which pays 75 percent of the tuition costs at a 4-year university or college in Utah, is awarded to high school students who graduate with their associate degree. Basin Cleaning Systems Ultrasonic Blind Cleaning Central Vacuum Systems 'Commercial Vacuums Carpet Cleaning Equipment Rental We Repair All Makes of Vacuums 590 West Main (Next to Win-On) Vernal 789-5888 www.BasinClean.com Advance Insurance 1 05 E. Lagoon, Roosevelt 722-8993 Aycock, Miles & Assoc. 58 E. 1 00 N., Roosevelt 722-51 53 Bart Morrill CPA 256 S. Main, Roosevelt 725-1900 Basin Builders Supply 2438 W. Hwy 40, Roosevelt 722-4589 Basin Care & Rehabilitation Center 1 87 W. Lagoon, Roosevelt 722-2497 Basin Cleaning Systems 590 W. Main, Vernal 789-5888" Basin Diesel W. Hwy 40, Roosevelt 722-5028" Basin Western Inc. E. Hwy 40, Roosevelt 722-3378" Best Western Inn E. Hwy 40, Roosevelt 722-4644"" Big 0 Tires - Roosevelt E. Hwy 40, Roosevelt 722-5561 Bluebell Store Bluebell 454-3578 Brad's Oilfield Service PO Box 7300-20, Talmage 823-3404 Brad's Truck & Trailer Service W. Hwy 40, Roosevelt 722-3994" Burdick Paving 1368 S. 3000 W., Roosevelt 722-5013" Century 21 Country Realty 865 E. 200 N Roosevelt 722-4553 C&C Supply W. Hwy 40. Roosevelt 722-4262 C&T Construction 4050 W. 5050 N., Roosevelt 353-4753 Camelot Resort Fruitland 548-2281"" Central Hydraulic 2480 W Hwy 40 722-4520" Country Flair Main Street, Altamont 454-3458 A We idnifre. Our !erling Scholars URHIWMPIH(Ril!BPIWWwF LCLadL ROOSEVELT, UTAH 722-5171 Bjl m |