Academy students will participate for the first time in the Early College Program which allows them to earn high school and college credits simultaneously.

Taught by Leeward Community College (LCC) instructors, the course will be offered on the Academy campus on Wednesdays from 1:30 – 4:30. For the first class, History 151, the instructor is Naiad Wong, a graduate of the Academy.

College counselor, Randall Fong, said, “With the class, students will begin creating a college academic record which can transfer to other colleges.”

The course for the fall semester is an introductory class for many students in their freshman year of college. Students will be treated as college students with less monitoring than in high school.

Seventeen seniors enrolled. They are Sonja Barba, Shannon Domingsil, Nia Fernandez, Shajaira Fiesta, Kathryn Garcia, Danielle Garza, Risa Hayashida, Liberty Huff, Phoebe Kirk, Kali Lyons, Annie Oh, Nicole Pagdilao, Christine Quiaoit, Jaycie Tanaka, Shyla Trinidad, Summer Tsukenjo and Kelly Zhang.

Hayashida said, “I am taking this class because I would be able to kill two birds with one stone. Although it is a college level course, I thought I would be fine since I got through UH Manoa’s Chemistry class this summer. I was able to handle the rigorous class and labs, so world history seemed okay. Since I need another year of social studies for Sacred Hearts and I wanted to get rid of required classes for college, I chose to take early college courses.”

In the spring, sophomores through seniors will be able to take Speech 151, another introductory class. Students who are interested in this course should see counselors Randall Fong or Cleo Eubanks to sign up.