T

New Tech High @ Arsenal Tech: A Campus without Borders

Students of New Tech High @ Arsenal Tech experience college life while still in high school. Since the school’s inception in 2007, its students have had the opportunity to go to area campuses to participate in college classes during their junior and senior years. Students can choose from more than 30 courses that meet high school requirements while preparing students for postsecondary education.

New Tech High @ Arsenal Tech’s dual credit program differs from that of many high schools. Students leave the school to take their coursework on the campuses of Ivy Tech Community College or Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) to become immersed in the college culture while still receiving the extra support afforded to traditional high school students.

“We do things differently here,” Scott DeFreese, director of New Tech High, said. “We require our students to pair their high school class up with the class they take on campus. Most other dual credit programs get a high school teacher certified as a professor to teach at the college level in the high school classroom.”

Students can choose from a wide variety of courses, many of which are included in the Indiana Core Transfer Library, a listing of college courses accepted by all of Indiana’s public colleges and universities for transfer credit. Some of the courses that students take include Concepts of Biology, Finite Mathematics, and Introduction to American Politics. Each course gives the students a head start on college.

Of New Tech High @ Arsenal Tech’s 80 Juniors, 10 are currently enrolled in courses at IUPUI, seven are applying for admission to IUPUI for the spring semester and15 are applying for admission to Ivy Tech for the spring semester, DeFreese said. New Tech High students enrolled in the special education program also have the opportunity to take college courses.

“Twenty percent of our population is in special education, but that doesn’t stop them from taking college courses,” DeFreese said. “We have two students in special education who are on their fourth class at IU.”

New Tech High @ Arsenal Tech looks beyond high school graduation to prepare its students for success in postsecondary education.

“The goal is to have every student go to college,” DeFreese said. “My kids are terrified of college campuses. The goal is to get kids to set foot on campus on a regular basis [because] studies show that [in] students who take class at universities during high school, there’s a dramatic difference in whether or not they attend 4-year universities.”