Warren County Technical School students gain opportunities to earn college credit

Sunday, September 20, 2009
By BILL WICHERT
The Express-Times

FRANKLIN TWP. | Students at Warren County Technical School are on track to earn college credits from several higher institutions, without even leaving the high school.

A new partnership kicked off this month to allow health sciences students to earn up to nearly two dozen credits at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Starting in January, automotive technology students are expected to start earning credits through Warren County Community College.

Now through a roughly $95,000 state grant, Warren Tech is partnering with the New Jersey Institute of Technology to revamp its engineering program. By September 2010, students are expected to start working toward credits at the university.

"If we can get them started now, then we have them on the path," Warren Tech Chief School Administrator Robert Glowacky said. "We want students to know you are not isolated. You can move up the career ladder."

School officials are expected to spend this school year working with the university and private consultants to upgrade the existing engineering and design program to college-level standards, according to Robert Zebrowski, the school's technology coordinator.

The enhanced curriculum also is expected to include greater collaboration between the different groups within the program, which involves computer-aided design, steel manufacturing and automotive technology students, Zebrowski said.

Credits earned through the program can be applied at NJIT or one of its partner universities, Zebrowski said. Students would pay a reduced per-credit fee, he said. The school also hopes to recruit more women and minorities to the program, he said.

"Everyone is college-bound, and that's the mentality we're taking," Zebrowski said. "Hopefully, this opens doorways to continuing education."

Warren Tech students can already earn credit from Warren County Community College for other courses, such as physics and pre-calculus. Automotive technology students also can earn 12 free college credits to apply to a degree at Northampton Community College.

The new program with UMDNJ also allows students to earn college credit at no cost, said Angela Adams, the health sciences instructor at Warren Tech. Incoming freshmen could earn up to 22 credits after four years, Adams said. The curriculum has been expanded to include the dynamics of being a health care worker, she said.

Following their high school graduation, students could be qualified for certain health care jobs or they could pursue additional college education, Adams said. Students might get a job at a hospital, which could reimburse them for future tuition expenses, she said.

"It really gives them a good start," Adams said. "It's a growing field. A lot of kids are real interested."

In addition to the UMDNJ partnership, Warren Tech also set up a program in the last school year with Hackettstown Regional Medical Center. Starting next month, juniors and seniors are expected to return to the hospital on a weekly basis to shadow staff members, Adams said.

"They just get a good view of what goes on in a hospital," she said.