Now Introducing: Symphony Williams in Dual Enrollment by Tyler Ferreira Alves Hill
Have you ever just wanted to skip through something productively? Whether it be a long line at the fair or tedious work,everyone has wanted to skip at least one thing for the more exciting parts of life. Well, let it be known that that kind of opportunity exists in even college before you full-time attend through Dual Enrollment.
Dual enrollment is a program that allows high school students to begin attending college courses while they are still in High School and is something already done by many such as with Symphony Williams from 11th grade in the courses occurring at Eastern Florida State College. Having been used to it, Williams had gotten a good comfortable grasp on how her days go. “Dual Enrollment is mostly just going to ESFC for college courses for spring, summer, and fall. You have to pass your English and Math PERT test to join… it’s absolutely necessary you pass both to get all your credits for college. Taking a college course can also count towards your high school credits too depending on the course,” said Williams when she described what it entailed for her.
Many have been prone to find college as a frightening idea from the things some teachers and guardians have told them, but, realistically, it is anything but. “I do enjoy dual enrollment, I adore it. It’s so fun. Not to mention, you get included in fun college events like the ice cream social, festivals, stress relief dogs, and so on.” said Williams when describing the experience. Even the amount of work issued out wasn’t as grand as one may have thought, “Homework isn’t too bad. Really [it] depends on the professor. Summer classes will always have more homework due to the shorter amount [of] weeks they are. However, its college homework is way easier than high school work strangely enough. Sometimes, professors even go over it in class or make it group work. My Comp 1 professor offers us rewrites for a better grade,” Williams said.
And any other worries were quelled as, according to Williams, most stress was born from outside sources. “Not too stressful, surprisingly enough. The only stressful thing is arriving late or missing classes. Sometimes research papers, but those aren’t really much of a hassle,” said Williams when she described any stress factors.
Taken in stride, and committed to it, it’s clear that Williams has grown adjusted to this “double-life” between her college courses and high school junior experience—An experience she believed is a fruitful effort, “I would recommend it to everyone. Most of the time what I say when I talk about it is you get to skip two years of college when you graduate high school and jump straight into getting your bachelors. It’s easier to deal with since you have much more free time,” said Williams. So maybe it would be a good idea to give it a shot.
Caption: Articulating Amazingly For Art: Symphony Williams practices during her lunch period on one of her notebooks. Williams strived for an Arts Education, or just an Education major, as she continued to work through her beginning two years of college during her sophomore and now junior year. “I want to be a high school art teacher… I want to be someone the kids can rely on, and I want them to be comfortable in my room. I’ll be a fun but fair teacher,” said Williams. Photo by Tyler Ferreira Alves Hill.