At Hunter High, there are a multitude of college classes available to you ranging from core classes to more specialized fields of study. Although there are plenty of classes, students don’t try for these classes due to preconceived notions about said classes. To address these rumors I interviewed one of our teachers here at Hunter, Mrs. Walker. Mrs. Walker is one of our Family and Consumer Science teachers, who teaches concurrent enrollment (CE) classes, two of which I have attended personally.

One of the first questions I asked Mrs. Walker was if she had heard any rumors or stigmas about college classes. Although she couldn’t attest to any student comments, she did have much to say about the parents whose children are in the classes, calling it “indoctrinated”. Concerns of useless degrees and intense student debt were at the forefront of their arguments. She also talked from personal experience with her daughters, saying they were racking up”$500,000 of student debt”, and even taking the exact same classes in high school and college.

Mrs. Walker also had many thoughts when asked about the benefits of taking a college class before going to college. One of her points was the fact of money. When talking about a CE class that I was currently taking, she said, “it would have probably cost about $1200 at SLCC.” You’re saving oodles of money just by taking a class a couple of years earlier. She also added to benefits, saying that taking a college class would get you into a sense of familiarity with the level of material presented, getting that “understanding of what college material looks like and how it’s different from high school material.”

To end my interview I talked to her from a personal point of view, asking how to succeed and keep up with the academic workload associated with an Advanced Placement (AP) or CE class. Mrs. Walker’s concerns were mainly focused on not piling on too much: “Try to just take one or two per semester”. She also added to her response, saying that asking for help and getting guidance from parents or the administration about study habits would be a great help with keeping up in a college class.